Where the Wild Calls
by FirecrackerWolf
Summary: Kassidy Kimler is a lone wolf with a secret of being a witch-but not an experienced one. Holden Brooks is a popular kid that gets into a lot of trouble-which results in him getting punished. Both attending the same school in Canada, Kassidy is Holden's tutor and while driving him home she accidentally turns them into bats and they have no choice but to survive out in the wild.
1. Just A Little Magic

**A/N- Hi, guys, after getting my story together I finally can get this thing going. I'm very excited to finally post a story on here after a very long time. I had to make a few changes here. Anyways I hope you enjoy the story and without further or due here's the first chapter of Where the Wild Calls**

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_**It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves ~ William Shakespeare**_

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**Chapter 1**

**Just a Little Magic**

* * *

The students in Mr. Samson's class were chatting among themselves before the bell rang. Mr. Samson wasn't even in the classroom, so most of the students got out their phones and texted one another or they simply just messed around. One student, in particular, didn't join in any of this nonsense. Sitting in her desk in the back corner of the classroom, Kassidy Kimler was reading a book. She preferred to read over talking-not that she was shy; she simply just didn't like to talk to people. She thought that some of the people in her class were loudmouths, distracting, show-offs, stupid, or just really annoying.

She was a lone wolf most of the time and she didn't seem to mind. She was mostly considered to be different among everyone in the entire school. She would always wear gothic clothing and gothic pieces of jewelry like chokers. She never liked skirts, dresses, girly girl things, or anything colorful for that matter. She didn't even like to do what most of the girls did in her school like get her hair, nails, toenails, and makeup done. Kassidy will put on eyeliner, but that was pretty much it.

Kassidy always wore her glasses when she was in school or anything related to reading and writing. She could see well and these were just reading glasses, but she preferred to wear them a lot. She always read a lot of books and because of that, she had to get reading glasses. She loved to read and because of her love of reading, she was planning on becoming an author. She was already working on a story and she was almost finished with it.

As Kassidy was lost in her book she then heard the bell ring and in perfect timing, Mr. Samson walked into the classroom. "Alright, settle down, class. Get to your seats and put your phones away. I know some of you can hear me, so don't act like you didn't hear me."

Kassidy finished the chapter she was on and placed her bookmark in her book. She then took a strand of her ruby red hair and placed it behind her ear and after she did that she placed her book in her leather bag and then focused her ocean blue eyes on Mr. Samson.

Mr. Samson was Kassidy's physics teacher and unlike the other students, she was not on his bad side. She was a good student in not only his class but in her other classes as well. She had some good grades and always had a good effort. She even had perfect attendance and never missed a day of school or skipped class.

Mr. Samson stood in front of the classroom and looked at everyone. Mr. Samson nodded slowly and then cleared his throat. "I know a lot of you are eager to get out of school since its Friday and considering this is the last period of the day, but if you listen to the lesson of today you'll be out of here in no time. We will have a test over this lesson next Friday, so I suggest that you get your notes out."

Without hesitating, Kassidy reached into her bag to pull out her notebook for physics and opened it to a blank page. Mr. Samson then taught the class the lesson for today and as he was talking, Kassidy took down her notes. She wrote in her notes like it was nothing and paid the very attention to Mr. Samson. A lot of the students in her class were very bored and didn't want to listen to Mr. Samson's lesson of today. Even though Kassidy had to admit his lessons were boring at times she didn't fuss about it.

Like her classmates, she wanted to get home, but for a different reason. A lot of her classmates were going to parties, but she didn't like parties that much. Every time she would go to a party she would instantly get bored. It wasn't really her thing.

Kassidy wanted to get home because she wanted to learn more magic. Kassidy was a witch and she had this secret for a long time now. The only ones that know about her magic are her family. She lived with her Uncle Matt, her Aunt Jen, and her two cousins Addison and Reese, and her dog, Raven. Sadly though neither her Uncle nor Aunt could teach her any spells. Her Aunt wasn't a witch, but her Uncle came from a family that could do magic, but her uncle learned only a little bit and after that, he didn't want to learn about it anymore and wanted to focus on something else. So Kassidy had to learn magic on her own from the books she was reading on spells and anything else having to do with witchcraft. She wasn't experienced, but her goal was to learn as much as possible so she can be a master at it.

She was taught the basics of being a witch by her parents when she lived with them in America like what herbs they used, the history of them, and easy spells. Her parents, however, didn't have the chance to teach her anymore because they died. Kassidy didn't even want to think about that horrible day and wished she could wipe it out of existence. She missed them terribly, but she sucked it up and continued with her life.

Mr. Samson stopped talking all the sudden in the middle of something he was saying. Kassidy looked up from her notes confused and when she looked at Mr. Samson, she noticed that Mr. Samson had his arms crossed and was furrowing his brow at someone. Kassidy looked to see who Mr. Samson was looking at and sitting right in the middle of the classroom with his phone out under his desk was one of the popular guys at school, Holden Brooks.

Holden was by far not only one of the popular kids, but he was a trouble maker and everyone knew that. He had angular fringe brown hair, along with brown eyes and was wearing a plain white shirt, along with some jeans, and sneakers. A lot of the students in school loved him; even the girls did. A lot knew though that he was already dating one of the cheerleaders, Molly Winslow.

"Mr. Brooks?" Mr. Samson asked. Holden jerked his head up at Mr. Samson and Kassidy saw that Holden turned off his phone without looking at it. "Are you listening?"

Holden didn't move, but he eyed his classmates that were next to him. He then looked at Mr. Samson and nodded. "Yeah…"

"What did I say then?"

Kassidy knew that Holden wasn't paying attention and this only made her roll her eyes. She did not like Holden one bit. She's heard that when he's not in school he's usually dancing for a dance team. She's also heard that he was very good at hip hop. She didn't like Holden because he danced, she didn't like him because of his attitude. She never talked to him and wasn't planning on doing that anytime soon or ever.

Holden stared at Mr. Samson, trying to form his words. "Um… you were saying some things…"

Mr. Samson narrowed his eyes. "Unacceptable, Mr. Brooks, I will not tolerate anyone in my classroom that will not pay attention."

"Well, it's not my fault you have the most boring class in this entire school. Nothing about this class makes me want to learn."

Mr. Samson walked over to Holden's desk in a few steps and didn't change his expression. "Two things: one that's another detention for you and two-" Mr. Samson held open his hand towards Holden, "hand over your phone." Holden sighed frustrated and placed his phone in Mr. Samson's hand. "One more time like that Mr. Brooks and I will double your detention."

As Mr. Samson went over to his desk to place Holden's phone there, the speaker came on. "Kassidy Kimler, please report to Principal Chester's office."

As soon as the speaker went off everyone stared at Kassidy. Kassidy got confused and wondered why she was needed in the Principal's office.

* * *

As Kassidy carried her leather bag she made her way to the Principal's office. Kassidy didn't want to come to conclusions that she did something wrong. She may look like a rebel, but she wouldn't go as far to cause any trouble at school. She wouldn't even go far as to use her magic here. She knew better than to use magic in public and if she did she knew her secret would be exposed. She has done her best to hide her magic.

Sometimes though, she wasn't too careful when it comes to her anger. She has anger issues and sometimes that can get out of control. Whenever she gets too angry, a fire will form all over her. Before she would start her day she would make sure to meditate and sometimes if she had to when she got angry she would try to take deep breaths to try and calm down.

Kassidy then saw the Principal's door and as soon as she got in front of it she knocked. She then heard the masculine voice of her principal. "Come in."

Kassidy opened the door and then looked at her Principal and he was sitting in a wheelie chair at his desk. "Hi, Principal Chester, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, have a seat, Miss. Kimler."

Doing what the Principal told her to do she sat in a nearby chair and placed her bag on the ground. In the office, Kassidy saw some pictures with Principal Chester and his family, some of his achievements in picture frames, and on his desk, she saw it was very organized. Papers were stacked and a couple of pens and a pencil were neatly lined up. He had a pencil sharpener that was on the side of his desk and a desktop that was on his other side of the desk.

"Am I in trouble or something?" Kassidy asked.

The Principal adjusted his glasses and then he folded his hands on his desk and looked at Kassidy. "No, no, no. This has nothing to do with you being in trouble. You're a very hardworking student with decent grades and this is actually why I called you in here."

Kassidy gripped the pendant that was part of her necklace. The necklace was pure silver and the pendant was very round, shiny, and was a very nice blue color like Kassidy's eyes. This necklace was her dad's and he gave it to her as a birthday present. This necklace was part of the Kimler family and is magic. This necklace can transform Kassidy into anything Kassidy wanted to be and she's done it a lot. It can only work though if she said it and no one else because Kimler blood was in that stone and only a Kimler with magic can use it. Her grandmother gave her dad that necklace and she also gave her uncle a necklace just like it, except that the pendant color was purple.

"The reason is," Principal Chester went on, " is because I have something to ask you and this actually involves Holden."

Kassidy crossed her arms along with her legs. "Holden Brooks?"

"Yes. He's been failing his classes lately and if he keeps that up he'll have to repeat his senior year. Since I know you have most of your classes with him I was thinking you could be his tutor until he gets his grades up."

The last thing Kassidy needed was to be Holden's tutor. Why did it have to be her? Kassidy cursed inside her head but tried not to show she didn't like that idea. Kassidy breathed through her nose and tried to stay calm and repeated inside her head to stay calm.

"With all due respect, I'm not a tutor. Tutoring others is not my thing."

"I've seen your work, Miss. Kimler and you're by far the only student I can count on to help Holden. It would mean something if you did this for Holden. Why don't you just give it a try and we'll see how it goes and if there are any problems I'll ask another student to help him."

Kassidy had never tutored anyone, but she was counted on a lot by others. In fact, she used to play basketball back at her old school in America and she was one of their best players. When she moved to Canada she decided not to play basketball because it was too painful for her because she knew her parents would no longer be there to support her. So she decided to focus more on her grades and get into a good college. Maybe tutoring Holden wouldn't be so much of a bad idea.

_If the principal is counting on me to do this, _Kassidy thought. _Then I should do it._ Kassidy sighed and couldn't believe she was going to do this. "Alright, I'll give it a go."

The Principal beamed. "Thank you, Miss. Kimler. I'm very pleased with your answer. Before you leave school, ask Holden for his number and you can set up his time schedule to help him. I already spoke to his father about this, so he won't be getting out of tutoring until he improves his grades. You may leave."

"Thank you, Principal Chester." Kassidy grabbed her bag and made her way out of the office, hoping she didn't regret her decision.

* * *

Later at night, Kassidy was at home up very late. It was somewhere around eleven and everyone in the house was fast asleep, except for her and Raven. Night time was Kassidy's favorite time of day because this was where she really had the fun. In the morning through afternoon, she usually had school, had to do chores, had to babysit her cousins or she worked on using her magic. Sure she usually read or wrote her stories during her free time, but she never really gets to transform into something different during those times of the day because her Uncle doesn't want her to get caught by someone while she transformed. So for a few months now she managed to sneak out of the house at night and transform into an animal without anyone noticing her. That's how she liked it.

Kassidy slowly and cautiously opened her window while Raven watched her with her head tilted to the side. As soon as the window was opened, Kassidy breathed in the fresh air and smiled. She could already hear the wild calling to her.

Kassidy looked at Raven, kneeled on the floor, and petted her raven black fur. "I won't be long, girl. I'll be back before anyone wakes up."

Raven licked Kassidy's face while Kassidy still petted her. Raven was Kassidy's best friend and she didn't know what she would do without her if she lost her. Raven was very protective and was a very good watchdog and Kassidy trusted her.

Kassidy got up and carefully made her way out the window. Kassidy looked at Raven one last time and then she shut the window very quietly. Kassidy looked at her surroundings. Her house was pretty much near the woods, so she had no problem of being exposed by someone. She especially had no problem with her Uncle and Aunt finding out about what she did during this time of night.

Kassidy looked at her necklace and held the pendant, knowing what she wanted to transform into tonight. Kassidy closed her eyes and then whispered, "Transform me into a bat."

The pendant started to glow the brightest blue. The brightness then grew around Kassidy and as it did her body began to change. She shrunk, her ears grew, fur was growing on her, and she was growing wings on her. Kassidy felt no pain and she let the transformation do the trick.

The pendant stopped glowing and there was no longer brightness. All that remained was the new body Kassidy was in. Kassidy was now a bat.

Kassidy opened her eyes and she smiled at her new form. She was a silver-haired bat and she was a yale blue color and just like her hair, she had a mane that was ruby red. What she really liked was the fact that she could see her tattoos. On her forearm she had a bat, on her upper arm she had a skull with roses growing out of it, and on her back, she had a gray wolf-although it was kind of covered by her hair. She looked like a different breed of a bat.

Kassidy then took off and flew at a wickedly fast speed. She flew like the wind was part of her and flew by trees, flew through small spaces, and did some crazy tricks in the sky. She learned how to act like any animals; including bats. She was a natural in any form really and when she was in those forms she felt like she could do anything. No one could tell her what to do. She felt free from everything that's happened to her.

After flying for a while she eventually landed on a tree trunk and hung upside down. She looked up at the stars that were in the sky and smiled. As she was smiling she began to glow like the stars. She shined like she was an angel and she was the only thing that looked different, compared to everything around the forest.

_I wish this could last forever…_

As Kassidy minded her own business she then heard something snap a few feet away from her. Kassidy slowly turned to look behind her and as she did she stopped glowing. She looked around her, but she saw nothing. Kassidy shrugged her shoulders, thinking it was probably just another animal that ran by her.

_I should probably head back before anyone wakes up._

Stretching out her wings, Kassidy let go of the branch and made her way back home. Kassidy didn't want to leave the forest, but she knew her family would be worried if she didn't get back home soon. Plus if her Uncle and Aunt knew they certainly would've grounded her.

* * *

Hiding in the shadows of the trees, two figures watched as their target was flying away. They were watching her for some time now and were preparing for their plans. They had their eyes on Kassidy and her family for a while now and were waiting for the perfect time to make their move. They were determined for this plan to succeed and they wouldn't stop until it was completed. When this plan was complete, nothing would stop them.

They watched Kassidy fly away until they saw nothing left of her. They then turned their heads towards each other and they chuckled.

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**A/N- I will post soon and have a nice day.**


	2. A Magic Accident

**Chapter 2**

**A Magic Accident**

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Kassidy was getting ready to pick up Holden. She got his phone number yesterday-which she didn't enjoy-and they agreed that Kassidy would help him today, considering they had nothing else to do. She was not looking forward to today, but she promised herself that as soon as she got this over with she would do whatever she wanted to do. As usual, she wore her gothic clothing like her leather jacket and leather boots and her gothic jewelry-not forgetting her necklace that her dad gave her.

She then grabbed her leather bag, her money, her phone, and her car keys and made her way out of her room. As Kassidy walked to the front door she saw her Uncle, her Aunt, and her two cousins sitting at the table. Her Uncle was on his laptop doing work; her Aunt was doing paperwork, while her cousins were coloring on paper. Kassidy then saw Raven sitting on the floor being a good girl, watching the family. Kassidy didn't want to bother them, so she continued to walk to the front door.

"Kass," Kassidy stopped and turned around to see that her cousin, Addison was running towards her with her drawing in her hand. Addison then stopped and smiled at Kassidy while showing her, her drawing. "Look what I drew."

Kassidy looked at Addison's drawing and she couldn't help but laugh. Addison's drawing was definitely child art and on it, Kassidy knew that Addison drew the family. They were stick figures, but Kassidy thought they were funny, especially the one of her.

"That's pretty good, Addy," Kassidy said. "I like it."

"But look what I drew," Kassidy saw her other cousin, Reese get next to Addison. Reese held up her drawing and it was the same thing Addison drew and this made Kassidy laugh more.

Addison saw Reese's picture and she scowled. "Hey, you copied me!"

Reese looked at Addison and scowled as well. "I did not!"

"You did too, copy cat!"

"Hey girls," Kassidy said and the girls looked at her. "They're both amazing and I think it's pretty nice that you both drew the family. I think they both deserve to go on the refrigerator, so how about you two put them on the refrigerator so everyone can see those awesome masterpieces you both made?"

The girls instantly smiled, forgetting about the argument and nodded eagerly. "Okay!" They said simultaneously. They ran into the kitchen.

Kassidy loved her cousins like they were actually her sisters. They always wore cute skirts or dresses and even though Kassidy didn't like the things her cousins wore she thought they looked adorable. Addison was the older sister and like her younger sister, they both possessed green eyes like their mom. Also like their mom, they possessed her freckles. While Addison had sandy blonde hair, Reese had dirty blonde hair and they would always have some sort of accessory in them like bows.

"You leaving, Kass?" Kassidy's Aunt looked up from her paperwork and she looked at Kassidy. Her aunt had natural red hair and always wore business clothes.

Kassidy nodded at her Aunt. "Yeah, I'm off to pick up Holden Brooks. I'm looking forward to what I have to work with." She said sarcastically.

"I know how you feel, Kass," Kassidy's Uncle looked up from his laptop to Kassidy. He had black hair and blue eyes and like her Aunt, he wore business clothes. "I wouldn't be too happy too if I was in your shoes. But as long as he doesn't give you a hard time I'm sure things will work out okay."

"I hope you're right because I find him to be very obnoxious."

"Well you just be careful, Kass," Kassidy's Aunt said. "Drive safely and get home as soon as you can. Also, don't use your magic in public."

"I will, Aunt Jen, and don't worry; I won't be using my magic in public."

"Kass?" Kassidy heard Addison and she looked to her and she and Reese were staring at her. "Will you read us a bedtime story when you get home?"

"Yeah, will you?" Reese asked.

Kassidy's cousins always asked Kassidy to read to them before they went to bed and she didn't mind. Like her, her cousins loved to read and Kassidy loved it when she knew someone that loved to read. Not only did her cousins love to read like Kassidy, but they also wanted to be just like her. This certainly did surprise Kassidy, but she was happy that her cousins wanted to be just like her. She was a very proud cousin.

"Sure, I'll be home before you know it." Raven then got up and walked over to Kassidy and when she got to her, Kassidy petted her. Kassidy then whispered, "I'll see you soon, girl." Kassidy then kissed Raven on the head and made her way out of the house.

Kassidy hit the unlock button on her car key to unlock her jeep and as soon as she did she got in. Kassidy sat in the driver's seat and then she fastened her seat belt. She made sure to adjust the rearview mirror, her seat, and anything else in or outside the jeep that looked like it needed to be adjusted. She then got out her phone to type in Holden's address into the GPS. Kassidy was lucky enough to get his address through his text messages.

She then inserted her car key into the ignition and then turned on the jeep. She then backed out of the driveway and as soon as she got out of the driveway she drove forward to Holden's house.

* * *

After a while of driving, Kassidy eventually pulled into Holden's driveway and parked her jeep. Holden's house was very nice. It was pretty big, had some nice windows, it was made up of cobblestone, and it had an outdoor pool. Kassidy hated to admit it, but this house was impressive.

Kassidy then got out her phone and texted Holden. _**I'm in your driveway.**_

Kassidy's phone instantly buzzed and she looked at her phone to see that she got a text message from Holden. _**I'll be out in a few minutes.**_

Kassidy turned off her phone and put it in the pocket of her jacket and as soon as she did she couldn't help but look at the mark she had on the palm of her hand. The mark was of a pendant and she was born with it. If anyone was born with this mark it meant that they were either a witch or a wizard. Her parents were born with it and so was her Uncle.

She then heard the front door of Holden's house open and she looked up from her palm to see Holden walk out of his house with his bag and trailing at his feet was a middle-aged man-which Kassidy assumed was Holden's dad-and he didn't look too happy. "Holden," the middle-aged man said, "you better listen to your tutor and get your work done because you're flunking all your classes."

Holden stopped and looked at his dad. "Dad, whatever."

"You see? This is why your attitude right now is the reason why I'm cutting you off. Until you fix your grades I'm cutting you off and when you get home tonight you better have half of those assignments completed and if that doesn't happen I will ground you forever!"

Holden turned away from his dad and made his way to the passenger seat of Kassidy's jeep. Holden opened the car door and then sat in his seat. As soon as he sat in the passenger seat he closed the car door. He then put his bag in the back of the jeep.

"Rough day with the family?" Kassidy asked.

Holden looked at Kassidy. "You can say that again."

Kassidy then backed her jeep out of Holden's driveway and while she was doing that, Holden fastened his seatbelt. As soon as Kassidy got her jeep out into the street she drove to a coffee place she would usually go to, to work on her assignments or to study. While she was driving, neither she nor Holden spoke to each other. While Kassidy was driving and concentrating on the road, Holden was on his phone either checking his social media accounts or texting his friends. The only sound that was heard was the buzzing from Holden's phone.

Kassidy was getting annoyed with the buzzing from Holden's phone. All she wanted to do was grab his phone and throw it out her jeep. _Hasn't he ever heard of the mute button? _ Kassidy took some deep breaths to try and calm down. She also tried to ignore the buzzing, but it wouldn't stop.

Eventually to Kassidy's relief after a long drive, they arrived at the coffee shop. Kassidy parked her car and as soon as she did she turned off her jeep.

Holden looked up from his phone to see where they were. "A coffee shop? Of all places and you picked a coffee shop?"

Kassidy narrowed her eyes at Holden. "Yeah, I picked a coffee shop. Where did you think I was going to take us to, a party? Well, guess what? Party time is over; it's time to get down to business. Let's go."

Kassidy unbuckled her seatbelt, grabbed her keys, and then got out of the jeep. She and Holden then grabbed their things from the back of the jeep and as soon as they got everything, Kassidy locked her jeep and they then made their way inside the coffee shop. As soon as they got inside they looked for a seat to sit at. It was very simple inside and the people here were either waiting in line to order something or they were at a table chatting amongst themselves or they were busy with their own things.

"Here," Kassidy pointed at an empty table, "let's sit over there." Kassidy and Holden walked to the empty table and they placed their things on the ground and then sat in their seats. "Why don't you get out your things and we can get started?"

"Sure," Holden said and he got into his bag to pull out his folders and papers. When Holden was finished with getting out his things, Kassidy saw that he had a lot of things to complete. This was going to be a long day.

"Okay… why don't we just start on the subject that you're struggling with the most? Which one are you struggling with the most?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm struggling with all of them."

Kassidy breathed in and out to stay calm. "And I see that, genius. I'm not going to put up with your crap, so you can complain all you want, but if you fail high school and you have to repeat your senior year don't blame me on this. Now tell me which subject you're struggling with the most."

Kassidy crossed her arms and waited for Holden to answer. She was never afraid to speak up to anyone, especially Holden. She could care a whole lot less if he failed or not and that was not her problem. That was his problem.

Holden sighed annoyed and shook his head. "Calculus."

"That's all you had to say, now let's see what you got." Holden got out his calculus papers and handed them to Kassidy to look at. Before she looked at the papers, Kassidy got out her glasses and put them on. She then looked at the papers Holden gave her and she nodded as she looked at each one. She looked through to see which one would be easier for Holden to start on and as soon as she found one, she placed it near Holden. "You got a pencil and a calculator?"

"Yup." Holden reached into the pocket of his bag and pulled out a pencil and calculator.

"Great, now read me the question."

Holden looked at Kassidy like she was crazy. "Are you kidding me? I have to read to you the question like I'm in kindergarten?"

"You wanna get this done or not?"

Holden grunted, but he read Kassidy the first question that was on the page. Throughout the day Kassidy helped Holden get some of his work done and it wasn't easy to help him. He would sometimes complain or just didn't want to do a certain question, but Kassidy kept on making him answer the questions until he was finished. They weren't getting along very well and Kassidy was doing everything she could to make sure she didn't burst into flames. Kassidy knew for sure that she would never get along with Holden.

* * *

Later at night, Kassidy was driving Holden back home. The stars were twinkling in the sky and it was very dark out. Kassidy had her headlights on and focused on the road. No cars were out and about on the road and it was just Kassidy and Holden on the road. She was not in a good mood after the constant arguments she had with Holden in the coffee shop. She was lucky enough not to get exposed in public and even though she wanted to burst into flames, she managed to cool down. Kassidy could not wait to get home.

Holden was once again on his phone doing what he usually did.

A couple of times when Kassidy stopped at a red light she would rub her eyes. Kassidy had never felt so tired from helping anyone in her life. Even though she bought coffee for her and Holden at the coffee shop she didn't feel any energy. She didn't want to disappoint her cousins though just because she was tired. She would read them a bedtime story before they went to bed and if she had to she would have some more coffee. After all, it's not like she had school the next day.

It wasn't the girls' bedtime anyway, so Kassidy had time to drop off Holden and get back home to get situated. After she read to them she was planning on going to bed. Even though nighttime was when she had her fun, she didn't feel like she was energetic enough to transform tonight. She was even thinking about transforming into a wolf, but because she had to tutor Holden, she didn't feel like doing that tonight.

Kassidy thought about asking the Principal to get someone else to tutor Holden, but the more she thought about it the more she realized that it was only one day. It's not like it was the end of the world or anything. She would keep doing this, but if it went too far, she knew she would have to ask the Principal to find someone else. Not only would Holden's attitude be a problem, but also her magic would be a problem. Who knows what would happen if anyone else found out about her magic?

As Kassidy drove she noticed something in the sky. When Kassidy looked to the sky she saw some bats flying. Kassidy smiled at the bats flying by.

"Awesome, bats."

Holden looked up from his phone to see the bats Kassidy was looking at and he simply just grunted in disgust. "Bats are not awesome; those creatures are disgusting and hideous."

Kassidy's smile went down as soon as Holden ruined the moment. Kassidy loved any kind of animal, including bats. She couldn't even believe what Holden just said. Kassidy gripped her hands on the steering wheel tight, already having enough of Holden's attitude.

"Was that necessary?"

"What? I don't see anything special about them. They're practically blind."

"Bats are not blind, Holden. They can see very well."

"And how do you know that?"

"I read about it. There is a lot to bats than you realize, Holden. They're the only mammals on the planet that can actually fly. Plus they actually help humans because they reduce the mosquito population and you know how those mosquitoes can get."

"Uh, huh. Okay, whatever." Holden looked back at his phone.

"Look it up, 'cause I can guarantee you that it'll give you the same information that I gave you."

"I don't need to learn about that boring stuff."

"That stuff is not boring. It's interesting and intriguing."

Kassidy was now seeing another reason why Holden was failing school right now. He didn't seem to care about the true facts. All he seemed to care about was cause trouble and start conversations that can go too far. Maybe if he behaved and started acting like a good student he wouldn't need a tutor. _And I wouldn't be in this situation._

"To you, it is," Holden said while texting someone. "Because you're a nerd."

"So what if I'm a nerd? I love being a nerd and I'm not ashamed about it. In fact, I'm not ashamed of who I am."

Her parents taught her that not everything in life is perfect. They were right. A lot wanted to be like others for good reasons or for bad reasons. Kassidy was just herself and didn't act like anybody. She never tried to be somebody that she wasn't; she was perfectly fine with who and what she was. Even if nobody seemed to like Kassidy for who she was she would ignore them or even tell them off.

Kassidy wanted to knock some sense into Holden. She not only knew how to use some magic, but she also knew some karate. She was a black belt and because of her training, she was an expert at fighting. She was taught though that fighting never solved anyone's problems that she should only use it in case she needed to. She knew that she didn't need to fight Holden.

While still staring at his phone, Holden shook his head. "Wow, I don't care."

"A lot would disagree with you. Besides like I said, the facts on bats are intriguing and interesting. You don't see that though because you keep sticking your nose in your phone."

Holden looked up from his phone to Kassidy as mad as her. "Not all the time!"

"I think you do, and I wish we were bats so you could see for yourself how fascinating it is to be one!"

All the sudden Kassidy's pendant started to glow brightly in the car. Realizing what she just did she looked at her pendant in shock. Kassidy did not think this through and she now realized the stupid mistake she just made. The pendant was now turning her and Holden into bats.

"Oh, crap!"

Holden's eyes were wide as he stared at Kassidy's pendant. "What the Hell's happening!?"

"Don't-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the blue brightness grew around Kassidy and Holden and this caused Kassidy to lose control of the wheel. The jeep drove off the road and started to go down a steep hill at a very fast speed. Kassidy and Holden screamed while the blue brightness grew around them. The jeep drove into the forest and Kassidy tried to keep it under control and avoid the trees, but she was beginning to shrink and so was Holden. Kassidy's heart was beating fast as she tried to stop the car, but it was too late. Kassidy and Holden transformed and then everything blacked out.

* * *

Flying through the woods, Shade Silverwing was trying to catch a beetle. He had the scrawny little insect insight and wasn't going to let it getaway. He used his echo vision on it and didn't take his eyes off it. He didn't even blink an eye. He flapped his wings as hard as he could and kept his breathing steady.

As soon as he got close enough to the beetle he opened his mouth wide open and caught his prize. Shade savored the flavor of the beetle as he chewed on it. _Another insect caught tonight,_ Shade thought to himself.

Shade was preparing himself for the migration with the colony. Even though he felt full he knew his mother would've wanted him to keep hunting. His mother wanted him ready for when the time came to migrate and she didn't want anything bad happen to him. Shade was the smallest bat in the colony and a lot didn't think he would make it when he was born. But when Shade took his first flight everyone was surprised. He then began to grow more, but very slowly.

Winter was coming soon and pretty soon they would make their journey to Hibernaculum. It was where both male and female bats would go and they would sleep there for four months. He couldn't imagine sleeping at Hibernaculum for four months.

As Shade flew through the forest looking for more insects to snack on, he caught a glimpse of something up ahead of him. "Huh?"

He squinted his eyes in confusion. It was nothing like anything he saw before; it wasn't an animal and it definitely wasn't living. Something about it though was strange and unnatural. He knew it wasn't part of the wild and that's when it hit him. It was something those humans had. Shade's mother told him about some things about humans. They created many things that the animals were not familiar with nor did they use. This thing looked to be some sort of transportation and it was mostly black.

Shade flew closer to the contraption and as he got closer he saw that it looked bad in shape. Everything looked damaged and out of place, but it was mostly the front of it that was mostly destroyed. Smoke was coming out of it and Shade saw that this contraption looked like it crashed into that tree pretty hard to get itself like this.

Shade landed on the part of where the smoke was coming out from and looked around and as he did smoke was getting near his eyes, mouth, and nose. He coughed from the smoke and tried to blow it away using his wings. As he looked around, he saw that there were no humans in sight. _That's weird…_

Shade then looked inside the contraption and it appeared that no one was inside it. But when Shade used his echo vision to see if he missed something he gasped. Shade's heart skipped a beat when he saw two bats that were Silverwings like him and they were unconscious. One was a female while the other one was a male and they looked badly injured. They were bleeding and were on something that was bloated and white.

There were no humans, but how did those bats get in that contraption and what were they doing in there? Shade knew though he couldn't waste time and leave these bats like this.

"I gotta get help."

Shade took off fast and pumped his wings as fast as he could to get to his colony. Those bats needed help and if he didn't get help soon, he knew they wouldn't survive.

* * *

**A/N- Hey, guys, I was planning on finishing this yesterday, but I got so tired that I had to call it a night. So I managed to finally finish chapter two and I'm really excited to post more chapters to my story. Kassidy and Holden will definitely meet the Silverwings in the next chapter and they will definitely be in for a surprise, especially Holden. **


	3. The Freak Out

**Chapter 3**

**The Freak Out**

* * *

Kassidy's head was pounding as she slowly woke. Her vision was blurry and she tried to see clearly what was going on around her. She gingerly rubbed her head but didn't move anything else. She wasn't paralyzed, but she didn't want to move.

As Kassidy's vision came into focus, she expected to still be in her jeep or somewhere where she was getting treated for her injuries. Kassidy remembered driving Holden back home and they were arguing and that's when she accidentally summoned the magic from her necklace. And that's when things were getting terrifying as the jeep went out of control and that's all she could remember. Instead, she found herself awoken inside somewhere else.

Kassidy slowly sat up and looked around her. It certainly did not look anything like a building, instead, it looked wooded. As she took in her surroundings, she could tell that this place wasn't just wooded, it looked very old. It wasn't a house, but she knew immediately that she was inside a tree.

_How did I get in here? _ Kassidy thought.

As Kassidy kept looking around she noticed a bat was on his back with his eyes closed. He was an iris purple color, with a light brown mane. Kassidy then noticed the angular fringe brown hair that looked exactly like Holden's and that's when she felt like she was going to be sick. It was Holden. And just like Kassidy, he was a bat.

_Oh, no…_

Kassidy didn't want this to happen, but it did. She accidentally turned not only her but Holden into bats. She was screwed.

She wanted to get Holden out of here, transform them back into humans, and maybe try to get him home without him waking up; thinking that maybe he was dreaming and that nothing actually happened. But when she looked at her neck, her necklace was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't around her neck. The only piece of jewelry that was around her neck was her choker. Kassidy's stomach dropped and she tried to calm down, but she could feel her heart racing.

She then heard Holden groaning and she looked to see that he was flickering, his eyelids open. Kassidy flew over to Holden and then she got on her knees as soon as she got to his side. As she looked at him, she noticed that his injuries looked tended to. There were leaves on him and that's when she noticed the leaves on herself. The leaves were stuck to them like glue and they made no movement of falling off of them. Kassidy was then sure that they got rescued by someone, but who rescued them?

"Holden?" Kassidy asked, worried. "Holden, you alright?"

Holden's eyes were half opened as he turned his head to look at Kassidy. As Holden looked at Kassidy he looked confused. But as he got a good look at Kassidy, his eyes went really wide. His eyes were in shock and fear.

He then screamed.

He abruptly scooted away from Kassidy and was breathing hard and was freaking out. Kassidy held her hands up and tried to move towards Holden. "Holden, calm down!"

"Get away from me, you freaky rodent!"

"Holden, it's me, Kassidy!"

Holden got up and tried to run, but because he had wings he ended up falling-hitting face first-to the ground. Holden groaned in pain.

Kassidy clenched her teeth in shock. _That's gotta hurt…_

"What happened?" Asked a masculine voice. "Is everything alright?" When Kassidy turned to see who it was, she was surprised to see a silver-haired bat near an opening of a hole. He had a goatee, light blue fur, a cream-colored mane, dark blue wings, and yellow eyes. He was looking at them worried. "Everyone heard screaming in here."

Kassidy didn't want to believe it, but this bat was actually talking to them. She had no idea that animals could even talk. Even when she transformed into a certain animal she had no idea because she was having her own fun. She thought this only happened in stories, but this was real life and this wasn't a story.

"You bats are talking!" Kassidy looked at Holden and he was looking from her to the other bat. "This can't be real, this can't be real! I gotta be dreaming because talking animals don't exist! I'm in a hospital right now, I'm getting help, and this is all a dream!" Holden put his hands in his hair. "This is not real!"

Kassidy flew over to Holden and landed near him. "Holden, you're not dreaming, this is real."

Holden looked at Kassidy. "You're not real! You're just a dream and I want this dream to stop! I wanna wake up!"

"Holden, get a hold of yourself!" Kassidy all the sudden backslapped Holden across the face. She heard the silver-haired bat gasp. Holden covered the cheek Kassidy slapped startled. His mouth was wide open as he looked back at Kassidy. "Listen! You're not dreaming and like I said before it's me, Kassidy. I'm a bat and I don't know if you noticed or not but you're a bat as well."

Holden put down his hand from his cheek and he looked at himself and as he did, Kassidy saw his confusion. He looked at his fur, his mane, his wings, and anything else he could see on him. He was touching himself to make sure he wasn't actually losing his mind and as he did so, Kassidy could tell he was slowly shaking. She knew Holden's reaction would've been like this and this was why she wanted to transform him back to his human self. But because she didn't have her necklace on her she couldn't do that.

As Holden was looking and touching himself, the silver-haired bat got next to Kassidy. "Is your friend alright?" Kassidy looked at the silver-haired bat and he was looking at Holden like he was an animal that he's never seen before.

Kassidy rubbed her neck and still couldn't believe this bat could even talk. "Umm… he's not used to anything like this and there's a good reason for it… The thing is, is that he's not actually a bat and neither am I…" The silver-haired bat looked at Kassidy confused. "We're humans…"

The silver-haired bat's eyes went wide.

"I'm a bat…" Kassidy looked back at Holden. "No! I'm a bat! I'm a freak! I'm one of the ugliest creatures that exist on this planet! How did this-" Holden stopped in his sentence and he looked at Kassidy and Kassidy saw there was a realization in his eyes. Holden then narrowed his eyes. "You did this to me! You turned me into a bat with that magical necklace of yours! You're a witch!"

Kassidy sighed and rubbed her temples. She then looked back at Holden. "Okay, I admit, I'm a witch! I didn't mean to turn you into a bat I was just angry with you that I wasn't thinking straight."

"My day just keeps getting worse and worse. First I have you for a tutor, my dad cuts me off, and now thanks to you I'm now inside a body of a bug-eating freak!"

Kassidy looked at the silver-haired bat and he still had his eyes wide open. Kassidy knew this looked like a bad time to be arguing with Holden. "Umm… sorry, if this is disturbing you… You probably don't hear things like that every day."

The silver-haired bat cleared his throat. "It's true… I don't. I don't hear bats saying that they're either human or witches."

"So do you believe us? We mean no harm."

"You say that you two are humans and now that I've heard all this I'm starting to believe you."

Holden walked over to Kassidy and got next to her. "Is it that obvious?"

"Now that I think about it, it does make sense. A Silverwing in the colony saw you two in this human contraption unconscious."

Kassidy and Holden looked at the silver-haired bat confused. _Silverwing?_ Kassidy thought about it and the more she did the more she figured that's what these bats called themselves. It would make sense to call them Silverwings because they were silver-haired bats. She liked that.

"Silver what now?" Holden asked.

"Silverwing, that's the name of our colony."

"How long have we been out for?" Kassidy asked.

The Silverwing looked at Kassidy. "You've been out for almost a day; it's good to know though that you two are okay. My name is Mercury; I'm the scout and messenger of this colony."

"I'm Kassidy and this is Holden."

"It's nice to meet the both of you and I also believe that you two are not harmful. Since you two are awake the elders might want to see you two, but before we go I have to go grab someone. You two wait here and I'll be right back." And with that, Mercury took off through the hole he came in through.

Holden looked at Kassidy with the same confusion when Mercury mentioned the name Silverwing. "Elders?"

Kassidy looked at Holden. "They're probably the ones that run this colony."

Kassidy couldn't believe that they've been out for almost a day. At this point, her Uncle, Aunt, and the rest of the family were probably worried about her because she's been gone a while. Especially her cousins because she said she would read them a bedtime story when she got home. It was too late now to read them a bedtime story. She could already see them get upset because she wasn't home.

She also thought that Holden's family was worried about him. Sure, he was a troublemaker, but that didn't mean they didn't love him. He, after all, did have a life back where he lived and even though he gets on Kassidy's nerves a lot she knew she had to get him home. She also had to get herself home.

"So... your family has magic?" Holden asked.

"Not all of my family members," Kassidy said. Since he now knew of her magic, she decided that there was no point in hiding this-even though she wished she knew how to do a forgetting spell, but she didn't know how to do it properly. "I take my magic from both my Mom and Dad's side of the family."

"Who doesn't have magic in your family?"

"My Aunt and my cousins don't but my Uncle does have magic, but he doesn't really know how to use it because he didn't want to focus on that."

Holden looked at himself again and then he looked back at Kassidy. "Are you… good with magic?"

"Not really… I'm not very experienced with magic. I still have a lot to learn if I'm to master all these complicated spells." _Well… at least he's settled down… for now._

She didn't know him very well and this made her worry if he'll spill the beans and tell everyone her secret. Although, she probably wouldn't have to worry about that… unless he had proof. She had to know for sure.

"You won't tell anyone will you?"

"Well, I won't be telling anyone right now because no one knows where we are. We can't stay like this though. We have to get back home."

"Alright, alright. So we'll just find my jeep, get my necklace, and as soon as we do, we'll transform back into humans and we'll forget that this ever happened."

Holden threw up his arms and then threw them back down. "Great, you lost your necklace, that's just great. We don't even know where your jeep is."

"Well Mercury did mention a Silverwing seeing us in my jeep, so maybe we could ask him or her to show us where the jeep is and then once we get to my jeep I'll grab the necklace. But I need to know though that if I transform you back into a human you won't tell anyone about my secret."

Kassidy didn't trust others easily, she mostly trusted her family. She never really trusted anyone unless they looked to be innocent and didn't want to cause trouble. If Holden couldn't keep this a secret then she knew for sure she had to learn that forgetting spell.

"So if you transform me back into my human self you want me to keep this a secret?"

"Pretty much."

Kassidy watched as Holden was thinking while looking at the ground. _Pick wisely, party animal. _

After a minute of thinking, Holden looked back at Kassidy. "Fine, if you transform me back into my normal self I won't tell anyone you're a witch."

"Deal."

Kassidy and Holden extended their hands towards each other and they then shook on it.

* * *

**A/N- Hey, guys, sorry I took so long, I was busy with preparing for basketball. So far I've been having a boring summer, but I've been excited to get back to this story. So I was planning on making this longer, but I decided to instead focus on Kassidy and Holden now being stuck as bats. The next chapter I will be focusing on these two meeting the elders, Shade, and Ariel. Plus you'll be seeing more of the two figures from the first chapter. Until then, be prepared for the next upcoming chapter. Later.**


	4. An Awkward Meeting

**Chapter 4**

**An Awkward Meeting**

* * *

One minute later, Mercury flew back through the hole he came through and out with someone else and they landed near Kassidy and Holden. The bat that was with Mercury had a golden blonde mane and hair, he was sky blue and had light green eyes. He looked to be around Kassidy and Holden's age, but he was shorter than them and Mercury.

The short Silverwing started to smile at them. "Hi! You two look like you're getting better, last I saw you guys you didn't look too good."

"You're the Silverwing that saw us?" Kassidy asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, that was me. My name's Shade, what're your guys' names?"

"My name's Kassidy and this is Holden."

Holden slightly nodded at Shade. "Hey, man."

Shade looked up and down at Kassidy and Holden. Kassidy noticed that Shade was looking mostly at her. "Hey, you guys are Silverwings just like us." Shade then tilted his head in confusion. "How come I've never seen you around the colony?"

"You three can talk to each other later," Mercury said. "Right now we need to get to the elders. Let's go."

Mercury took off, with Kassidy and Shade following behind him. As they flew out the entrance, Kassidy saw so many bats roosting all over the place. Everywhere she looked she would see a bat. This astonished her; she had always wanted to see a whole colony of bats that this was even on her bucket list, one down more to go. She couldn't wait to get out her bucket list when she got home.

As she flew up the tree, she saw the Silverwings start to stare at her. They started to whisper to one another and while they did, she noticed that some of them were looking a little petrified of her. She didn't like to be stared at because it usually made her uncomfortable. She tried not to show she was uncomfortable and knew that these bats had never seen her before, so she tried to ignore them.

"Hey!" Kassidy, Shade, and Mercury stopped in midflight and looked down to see that Holden was on the ground near the entrance. "I can't fly!"

Kassidy closed her eyes embarrassed, remembering that Holden had no idea how to take flight. _Crap, _she thought. She could now see and hear the colony whispering not only talking about her but also Holden. Kassidy could already tell that this was going to be the main talk of today.

Kassidy looked up at Mercury. "Mercury, could you hold on a sec? I gotta go help, Holden." Without waiting for a response, Kassidy flew back down to Holden. As soon as she got near him, she landed. "Holden, did you try taking off?"

"Yes, I did and I couldn't get in the air. I wasn't born to be a bat!"

"Everything okay?" Shade landed confused.

"No! I'm the only bat here that can't fly and these wings are practically useless!"

"Would you keep it down!?" Kassidy snapped while whispering. "You're making a scene here and the colony is staring at us!"

Holden looked up and instantly looked back at Kassidy when he saw eyes were on him. Holden swallowed some of his saliva nervously and he looked as though he regretted looking up. He rubbed his neck and Kassidy could tell he was trying not to look back up at the colony.

_Damn it, why did it have to be today?_

All Kassidy felt like doing was putting a sock in Holden's mouth so he would shut up. Kassidy got annoyed by the fact that he was loud and talked too much. He was like that shepherd boy who wouldn't stop tricking the villagers that wolves were attacking his sheep in the story The Boy Who Cried Wolf, except the difference, was that Holden was crying out that he couldn't fly.

Kassidy could feel the anger spread through her and she instantly realized it and took a couple of deep breaths to try and calm down. Kassidy couldn't blame Holden, this was his first time being a bat and he didn't know where to start on his flying. Learning how to fly takes time and this was a problem for Holden because he now had to try and take off. Even though Kassidy didn't like Holden, she knew she had to help him like she helped him with his school work and studying. Plus she didn't want to turn into a hot head.

"Okay…" Kassidy started, "try jumping in the air and once you're high enough, flap your wings the best you can."

Holden looked up-without looking at the colony-and tried to do as Kassidy said. Holden jumped as high as he could and tried to flap his wings, but he could only get a few inches in the air and then he flopped onto his stomach. Some of the bats started to laugh at Holden's failed attempt to fly and this only made Holden's face burn red with embarrassment.

"Oh, god…" Holden muffled. "I'm even more flightless then a penguin…"

Kassidy and Shade looked at each other. They then looked at Holden and helped him to his feet.

"Well… it could've been worse," Shade said. "At least you didn't hit your head."

"Yet."

"Okay, let's do something different," Kassidy said. "We can lift you up and once we get high enough, you can try to flap your wings."

"You gotta be kidding me; you're going to lift me like I'm a puppet?"

"Well I don't see any other way around it, so this might be our only option."

"Well, we should probably hurry," Shade said. "I think Mercury is getting impatient that we're taking too long."

"Right, you take his right arm and I'll take his left." Kassidy looked at Holden. "You ready?"

Holden shook his head. "I don't feel ready."

"Then get ready. When I say go, we lift him." Kassidy and Shade flew to the air and grabbed Holden's arms with their feet. "Alright... go!" Using all the strength they had, Kassidy and Shade flapped their wings and lifted Holden off the ground as high as they could. "Holden flap your wings when we let go." Kassidy looked at Shade and nodded. "Now."

Kassidy and Shade released their grips on Holden and as soon as they did, Holden miraculously flapped his wings and was now flying. Holden's eyes were wide, but he kept flapping his wings.

"That's it, Holden," Shade said. "You're flying!"

"I am," Holden said. "I'm flying!"

"Hurry up, you three," Mercury called down. "We can't keep the elders waiting."

As Mercury flew up, Kassidy, Holden, and Shade started to catch up to Mercury as they followed him up high into the tree. They'd passed countless passageways and were nearing the upper reaches of the tree now. Kassidy could feel the insides of her stomach twist and turn. She had no idea what to expect of these elders, but she wanted to remain calm.

When she looked at Holden, she could tell that he was looking nervous. She's never seen him ever look nervous and she would usually see him have a cool and calm expression on him. Today was not the case.

Mercury stopped in midflight and looked at the three bats and pointed to a ledge. "Land there."

Obeying Mercury, all three of them landed on the ledge Mercury pointed to. Mercury then flew up to another ledge and roosting under it was four older looking bats. Mercury landed under it and then he whispered to one of them in her ear before retreating to another ledge.

Kassidy assumed they were the elders and as she, Holden, and Shade were staring at them, one of them spread her wings out and glided down to another ledge along with the other three older bats and landed. All of them had lines forming across their eyes and they all had silver-white hair. Even though they looked old they still looked like they were in good condition, even for hunting.

One of them being the tallest stepped forward a little and she was inspecting Kassidy and Holden very carefully. She had a light brownish-grayish fur color along with some part of her fur being a dusty rose color, with a brown mane, dark purple wings, and she had long bangs that almost reached down to her feet. She had kindness in her eyes like she could be their grandmother, but also with curiosity.

The elder looked at Shade. "Shade Silverwing," she started, "as we know you found these two in a human contraption hurt with no sight of any humans whatsoever, is that correct?"

Shade looked at Kassidy and Holden and then looked back at the elder. "Yes."

"It was the right thing to do for these two if you hadn't said anything about this we may never know what might've happened if you hadn't found them." The elder then looked at Kassidy and Holden. "Newcomers, please step forward."

Kassidy hopped forward with no problem, but Holden didn't move. Kassidy looked back at Holden and he acted as though he didn't hear the elder. She used her head to gesture at Holden to come on. As if he was just in a trance, Holden copied what Kassidy did and hopped forward until he was next to Kassidy. Kassidy then looked back at the elder.

"My name is Frieda Silverwing, the chief elder of this colony and on my left is Lucretia and on my right are Bathsheba and Aurora."

All of them were looking at Kassidy and Holden with the same kindness and curiousness as Frieda, all except for Bathsheba. She was staring at them with the coldest and iciest expression on her face. Like Frieda, she had bangs that almost went down to her feet, but she was shorter than her and she was plump looking. She had dark gray fur along with her wings being the same color and she had a mane that was kind of silver as her hair, but it was grayish. Her stare was mostly on Kassidy, but Kassidy wasn't disturbed by her.

"What are your names?"

With Holden being too nervous to speak up, Kassidy decided to answer Frieda's question. "I'm Kassidy and this is Holden."

"It's nice to meet you, Kassidy and Holden. I welcome you two to our home, Tree Haven. It is but a miracle that you two are okay. How are you feeling?"

Kassidy and Holden had some bruises on them and some of the leaves that were on them like they were bandages fell off of them while they were flying. Kassidy was glad that neither she nor Holden was crushed and if they were they wouldn't be alive today.

"Okay, I guess," Kassidy said. "Nothing too serious, but we're okay."

"What were you two doing in that human contraption?"

"An excellent question, Frieda," Bathsheba said coldly as her expression as she got next to Frieda. "I'd like to know as well."

Ignoring Bathsheba's rant like she wasn't actually there, Kassidy began to speak. "The human contraption you speak of is actually called a jeep, it's actually mine. The reason why we were in it is that we're not actually bats." Kassidy took a moment to breathe in and then continued. "We're humans."

Kassidy could hear gasps come out from the colony and they were whispering more to each other. The elders looked at each other with the same expression as everyone else in the colony. Kassidy had a feeling it was going to be something like this, but she kept her focus on the elders as they whispered to each other.

Holden leaned in towards Kassidy and whispered using the side of his mouth towards her while still looking at the elders. "That worked out well…"

The elders looked back at Kassidy and Holden and Frieda cleared her throat. "You're humans?"

"Yes," Kassidy said. "You might not believe we're humans, but it's the truth. I'm actually the reason we're bats now because…" Seeing as though this wasn't going to be on camera, she decided to tell the elders her secret, even though she didn't want it exposed. "I accidentally summoned magic from a necklace of mine… I'm a witch."

All the sudden things went silent. No one gasped or whispered to each other. Everything was dead silent with everyone's stunned expressions on Kassidy. She could feel eyes on her from everywhere in the tree. If she would've said this to anyone that was human she had no idea what would've come of it.

Holden and Mercury were the only ones that weren't shocked-mostly because Kassidy told it to them privately. Even though they knew about this, Kassidy saw they looked a little uneasy that no one was saying anything.

"Frieda," Bathsheba said breaking the silence, "how can we trust them? We have no idea what they're capable of. I don't trust them, especially not her." Bathsheba pointed at Kassidy accusingly. "Look at her, she has these drawings on her, she has some black stuff around her eyes, and she has this thing around her neck that doesn't look right. You don't see a bat looking like this and she looks like a devil."

The colony started to whisper again, taking in what Bathsheba just said. Yes, Kassidy looked like a black sheep compared to everyone else, but she was not a devil. Never in her life has anyone called her a devil because of the way she looked. She didn't want anyone to be scared of her, but some of them were already scared or some had no idea if they should be scared of her or not.

She felt like one of those women being accused of a witch from the Salem Witch Trials. She even felt like one of those communists being accused from the McCarthy Trials. She didn't want anyone to believe she was this evil bat that might cause destruction on anyone. She may have anger issues, but she wasn't a bad person.

"With all due respect, Bathsheba," Kassidy began, "I don't want to cause anyone any harm. I know this is something you're all not used to, but this is what I basically look like. These drawings-" Kassidy pointed at one of her tattoos, "these are called tattoos, these were put on me and I chose them and now they're a part of me forever and the blackness around my eyes, it's called eyeliner, it's what we humans call makeup. Also, this thing around my neck-" Kassidy pointed to her choker, "it's a choker; it's a piece of jewelry that some people like to wear, but it doesn't actually choke you though."

"If I may," Holden finally speaking up said while lifting one of his fingers up. "What she's saying is true. At first, I didn't want to believe she was a witch, but when she turned us into bats I realized that she was one. Even though she looks like a devil she's not, this is just her everyday look."

Kassidy didn't think that Holden would have her back-mostly because he acted like a douche but he did. He stood up for her. She wanted to thank him but now didn't seem like a good time to do that. She decided she would thank him later.

"I can prove to you that I don't mean any harm and that it's true what I said about Holden and I being humans and me being a witch. I can do a spell." Kassidy looked at Frieda. "With your permission of course."

Frieda looked at the other elders and she then looked at the colony. They were still shocked from what Kassidy said and some even started to talk about Kassidy actually doing something harmful to them. Frieda looked back at Kassidy and she slowly nodded. "Go ahead."

Kassidy slightly nodded to thank Frieda and then she looked around her to see what she could do. She didn't want to do a spell that looked dark-even though she didn't do black magic-because she didn't want to scare anyone any further. There was not much she could do in here and everyone was waiting for her to do something.

Kassidy then looked down at her choker and while she looked at it this formed her an idea. She grabbed her choker and took it off and as she did it stretched as it came over her head like it was a rubber band. She then placed the choker on the ground and took a couple of steps back. The colony watched her like this was a magic show they were attending and all Kassidy could focus on was the black, stretchy choker.

She concentrated on only looking at her choker and as she did she slowly lifted her arm and positioned her hand towards the choker. She took a deep breath but didn't blink. Then with the lift of her arm, her choker lifted off the ground. She guided her choker towards her and as she did she could hear more gasps coming from the colony.

"She is a witch."

"She's making that thing float."

"How is she doing that?"

The choker was then over her head and as she used her arm to pull it down towards her, she lifted her other arm and using both of her hands, she gingerly stretched the choker and then the choker went down Kassidy's head and face and back onto her neck. She gathered her hair and then flipped it so the choker wouldn't be on the strands of it. She couldn't believe she actually demonstrated a spell to a whole colony of bats. She only demonstrated her magic towards her family members if they had the time or because they just wanted to watch her. When she demonstrated her magic towards her family it was fun, but she didn't feel the fun right now.

She looked towards the elders and they now had their jaws dropped. She didn't know if the elders would think her spell was harmless or harmful. There was a way for anyone like Kassidy to read others' minds, but it takes time to learn and she didn't know how to do that yet. If she did that she probably would've guessed that they wouldn't be too happy that she didn't respect their privacy. Kassidy wouldn't have blamed them because she wasn't fond of anyone that didn't respect her privacy.

"In all my years," Frieda began, "I've never seen anything done like this." Kassidy held her breath and prepared for the worse. "It was most surprising of what you did there, Kassidy, but I believe you've proven that there won't be any trouble."

The colony started to whisper again and started to agree with Frieda. A lot were no longer looking afraid of Kassidy and instead stared at her in amazement. This reminded her of her cousins whenever she did a spell in front of them. She didn't think it would work, but it turns out she chose the right spell.

"How can we know for sure that she won't hurt anyone?" Bathsheba asked. "She might be trying to fool us or-"

"Bathsheba," Frieda said interrupting. Frieda looked at Bathsheba. "That'll be quite enough. They're our guests and the least we can do is give them the help they need." Frieda looked back at Kassidy. "How long do you two plan on staying here?"

"Until we can transform back into humans," Kassidy said.

"Very well, until you and Holden transform back to your human selves, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you need. For now, I think it would be wise that you two stick around with someone in the colony until then."

"They can stick with me," Shade hopped forward until he was next to Kassidy. "I'd like to help them until they can transform back."

Kassidy was already grateful for Shade. He seemed to be like a nice guy. She's noticed that he looked to be the smallest one in the colony. She's also noticed that he constantly beats his wings more than when she, Holden, and Mercury were flying. Even if that's the case she still thought that he was nice and was willing to help her and Holden.

"Then I will allow you to do that, Shade," Frieda said. She looked at Kassidy and Holden. "One more thing before you go. You, humans, are not familiar with this law but we bats have to fly at night. We are never allowed out into the sun, so you two will have to get used to flying out at night because no bat is allowed out into the sunlight."

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other confused. Kassidy always assumed the only reason why bats didn't go out into the sun was that they hated it. This was something different. If she hadn't known about this law and she was a bat during the day she didn't want to know what would've happened. Why weren't they allowed to go out into the sun?

"I wish you two luck, you may leave."

Shade looked at Kassidy and Holden. "Follow me, you guys can roost with me and my Mom."

Shade took off and Kassidy followed behind. Holden jumped off the ledge and began to flap his wings and he then followed Kassidy and Shade down the tree.

"Shade," Kassidy said as Holden flew next to her, "are you sure your Mom will allow this? We don't want to impose."

Shade looked over his shoulder with a smile. "My Mom won't mind, besides she probably knows by now that you won't hurt anyone. What you did back there was pretty cool, how'd you do that anyway?"

"I just concentrated on my choker and imagined it floating in the air like it was a feather."

"I'm kind of jealous actually, I wish I had magic."

"Yeah, but if you do have magic you would have to do everything you can to keep it hidden from everyone. It's hard for me to do because there's a lot of people in the world that could see me use my magic and if they did they would've recorded me or took a picture of me and post it online for the world to see."

"No kidding," Holden said. "You did a pretty good job of hiding your powers in your jeep."

Kassidy scowled at Holden. Now she didn't want to thank Holden for having her back. She couldn't even imagine how his girlfriend had to deal with him. Did he treat her like this? Maybe she was a gold digger and that's why she's with him. She didn't know, but she didn't care.

"I've so many questions for you guys," Shade said.

He then saw someone he recognized and he flew towards her. He roosted under the ledge next to the female bat and as soon as he did, the female bat hugged him. She had natural red hair-kind of like Kassidy's Aunt-and a natural red mane like she was a lion, with purple fur, and purple wings. Kassidy and Holden stopped in midair and watched as the female bat hugged Shade.

"Shade," the female bat began, "how'd it go?"

Shade got out of the female bat's hug and looked at her. "It went good, Mom."

"A lot were talking about the bat named Kassidy and what she did."

"Yeah, you should've seen what she did and she's actually right over there with her friend." Shade pointed at Kassidy and Holden and his Mom looked at them.

Kassidy wouldn't say Holden was her friend. She was Holden's tutor, but she would rather call it more like an acquaintance. Holden would probably agree with her if she said this to him.

"Mom, this is Kassidy and Holden. I'm going to be helping them until they get back into their other-selves. You think it would be fine if they roosted with us?"

Shade's Mom looked at Kassidy and Holden and she smiled at them weakly. She then looked back at Shade. "Well if they're alright with you then they're alright with me." She then looked back at Kassidy and Holden. "Come on over."

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other and then back to Shade's mom. Kassidy flew towards the ledge Shade and his Mom was under and landed next to Shade. She looked back at Holden and he looked at the ledge confused. He was trying to see how they were perched under it like he was trying to do his school work. He had a lot to learn if he was going to be a bat.

Shade and his Mom looked at Kassidy and didn't know how to take Holden's reaction to this. Kassidy nervously smiled at them and then looked back at Holden.

"So… do I just grab onto something?" Holden asked.

"Land anywhere you like, Holden." Shade's Mom said.

"Just hurry up and pick a spot, Holden," Kassidy said.

Holden looked at the ledge some more then flew towards it. Holden looked under the ledge and then he looked at how all three of them were hanging. He then tried to copy them and struggled with it as he did so, but managed to hang under the ledge. Holden looked embarrassed again and didn't want to look at anyone.

"It's alright, Holden," Shade's Mom said. "I know you're trying to get used to this, so there's nothing for you to worry about."

Holden looked at Shade's Mom and weakly smiled. "Thanks, uh…"

"Ariel, my name is Ariel."

"It's nice to meet you, Ariel," Kassidy said. "Thank you for letting us roost here, it really means a lot."

"It's my pleasure, Kassidy."

"You can just call me Kass for short."

"Then I'll call you Kass." Ariel looked at Kassidy and Holden's injuries with a worried expression on her face. "Are you two recovering okay after what happened?"

Ariel seemed nice like Shade and Kassidy liked her like she liked Shade. She reminded her of her own Mom. Her Mom was always caring for others and was considered to be a social butterfly at times. Kassidy didn't take the social butterfly from her Mom, but she did take the caring trait from her. She always had a nice smile on her face and she never hesitated to say hi to anyone and sometimes Kassidy would get annoyed by that, but she didn't judge her Mom for that. She already missed it.

"Yeah," Kassidy said, "the injuries are getting better I would say."

"What do you two plan on doing?"

"Right now I plan on sleeping," Holden said. "I'm really tired after that talk we had with the elders."

"I feel you, Holden," Shade said.

Like Holden and Shade, Kassidy did feel tired after that talk with the elders and after she used a spell on her choker. She was glad she could earn most of the bats in this colony their trust. Bathsheba, in particular, was one of the bats she could not get to trust. She had a bitter attitude like an old neighbor of Kassidy's she used to have back in America. If she had to choose between her neighbor and Bathsheba she would probably have to go with her neighbor because she at least didn't judge her too harshly as Bathsheba did. There was definitely something about Bathsheba that she didn't like and any facial expression on anyone can tell her if she'll get along with them or not and she knew she definitely wasn't going to get along with her.

"Holden and I are going to go back to my jeep to find a necklace of mine, so we can transform back into our human selves and we were actually hoping that Shade could show us where he found us at."

Shade smiled. "Yeah, I can do that. I happen to know where it actually is."

"Well I suggest that you three get some sleep so you can get an early start," Ariel said. "You're probably going to need it."

Kassidy knew that Ariel was right. She wanted to get home soon and she wondered if they were searching for her. She also wondered if Holden's family were searching for him as well. Either way, she knew they had to be worried about them. There was probably even a search party for them. All she could do in the meantime was get some rest and hopefully get her and Holden home as soon as possible.

* * *

Walking in the shadows of the woods, the two figures-dressing in all black-walked up towards a black jeep that was destroyed at the front of it. The male figure managed to see through Kassidy's eyes as she was driving her and another boy her age home. He now knew that the boy's name was Holden. As he was looking through her eyes, he saw that she accidentally summoned magic from her necklace and as soon as she did, he saw that her vehicle was getting out of control and after that, he saw blackness.

It took him and his female companion a while to find her jeep, but they managed to find it. They were glad nobody found it yet-which was surprising. As soon as they got near the jeep they looked inside it. They thought they would see Kassidy and Holden's bodies in the jeep, but they didn't. Instead, they saw their things and nothing else.

The male figure grumbled to himself and hoped to see Kassidy's body and maybe hoped to see her lifeless. It wouldn't stop him and his companion however with continuing on with their plans.

The male figure tried to open the jeep door, but as figured it was locked. He then lifted his hand towards the door and then while turning his hand clockwise the car door opened. He then opened the door with his gloved hand and looked inside some more. The first thing he noticed was Kassidy and Holden's phones on the floor of the driver's seat and passenger's seat. He picked up Kassidy's phone and using his other free hand he concentrated on Holden's phone and made it float to his hand at a fast speed. He then looked at the screens of the phones and there were many text messages from Kassidy and Holden's phones. He read the text messages and he knew immediately these were text messages from their family members.

_**Kass, where are you? It's late.**_

_**Holden, where the hell are you? It's the middle of the night!**_

The male figure's hands then started to heat up and his palms turned into lava and as they did, the phones he had in his hands started to melt into a metal liquid and there was some sparking as the phones were melting. He continued to melt the phones until there was nothing left.

He looked back into the car and his eyes then caught a silver necklace with a blue pendant. It was Kassidy's. He knew he had to take it, otherwise, he knew that if Kassidy and Holden came back to the jeep they would transform back into humans. He couldn't allow that. He grabbed the necklace and then he and his companion started to grab more of Kassidy and Holden's things. They may not have had the chance to kill Kassidy, but they would find her no matter what.

And tonight they would go back to Kassidy's house and take care of business. However, they wouldn't kill them until they had her.

* * *

**A/N- This chapter took me a while, but I'm finally finished. The figures you've been reading about will be around at certain points in these chapters. Kassidy and Holden will definitely be in shock when they see their stuff is gone. Be prepared for the next chapter. Later.**


	5. The Disappearance

**Chapter 5**

**The Disappearance**

* * *

Kassidy woke up to the sound of bats waking up. Many of them were already heading out of Tree Haven to go do some hunting and she couldn't help but admire how many of them there were. Sure she saw bats in zoos, but to her this was much more exciting. These guys could communicate and she never would've imagined she would actually be talking to animals. There was a spell for it, but like the other spells she was trying to learn she didn't know how to use it. She sometimes felt like she wasn't learning any spells and that she may never be an experienced witch like her parents were.

She thought about this and as she did she could feel the anger surge up in her. She could feel the fire flow through her veins and they were ready to rise on her body. Realizing that she was about to burst into flames, Kassidy took very deep breaths to calm down and as she did she could feel the fire inside her die down. It was too close of a call.

_Stop thinking that, Kass, _Kassidy thought to herself. _You'll get there, you just need more practice._

Kassidy noticed that Shade and Ariel weren't roosting under the ledge. She figured they probably went to do some hunting and didn't want to wake up her or Holden. She wanted to find Shade as soon as Holden woke up so they could go find her jeep. She could already imagine what repairs the jeep needed.

Kassidy then heard yawning and she turned to see that Holden was waking up. He was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and was stretching. He then turned his head to look at Kassidy as soon as he was fully awake. "Should I say morning or night?"

"I guess night," Kassidy said, "because that's when bats wake up and fly. They're nocturnal after all."

Holden looked to see that Shade and Ariel weren't hanging from the ledge. He then looked back at Kassidy. "Where's Shade and Ariel?"

"Hunting probably, we should go find Shade and get this over with. Our families are probably worried enough."

Holden rolled his eyes and he looked down. "Your family is probably more worried about you. My family could care a whole lot less about me, especially my Dad."

Kassidy narrowed her eyes in confusion. She knew he was a popular kid, a troublemaker, and a party animal, but she never would've thought that his family didn't care about him. _There's no way they wouldn't care._

A lot of people have different ways of parenting and usually, it's good parenting or bad parenting. Holden looked like he could get anything he wanted without the complaint of either one of his parents saying they couldn't get what he wanted. This was probably one of the reasons why he got into trouble a lot. She did see Holden's dad get angry at him but it was probably because he wanted what was best for his son. He probably just wanted Holden to do well and not fail in life.

_What did his family ever do to him to make him think this?_

"I'm sure that's not true."

Holden snorted as if she just made a joke. "I'm already failing school and I get into a lot of trouble and it always pisses my Dad off."

"I'm sure he cares about you though."

"I'm already turning out to be a spitting image of my mom and he probably hates me for that. My Mom was an alcoholic and she would always go to parties and whenever she got drunk from them it would always turn into a huge fight between her and my Dad. They weren't always close and they tried therapy once, but it didn't work out so well. When my Mom got drunk one day, she hit my little brother, Lewis. My Dad then finally had enough of her and they divorced. He had full custody of us and we never saw her again." Holden looked down again, but sadly. "I told myself that I didn't want to be anything like her, but here I am getting into trouble a lot and not doing great in school.

"I don't know why I do this and my Dad and brother are probably disappointed in me because I'm turning into her. I like to have fun, but I don't want to be what my mom was."

Kassidy opened her mouth and then she closed them. He didn't want to be like his mom, but he felt like he was doing a bad job at that. She didn't think she would think this, but she felt bad for him. He had a Mom that didn't act like a Mom and he wanted to be nothing like her and yet he was slowly following her footsteps.

_This could probably explain his attitude,_ she thought. _I wish I'd known about this… I wish I knew how to use that spell to see through his mind when I didn't know about this…_

She knew for a fact though that she didn't know about this and quite frankly Holden wouldn't of wanted her to see through his mind. It might've been too inappropriate to do that anyway. Everyone had something they didn't really want to talk about and yet Holden shared something with her that he managed to get off his chest. He probably wanted to tell her this seeing as though no one he knew was around to hear this and because they weren't doing anything yet.

"Well… it's not too late to change your actions," Kassidy said. Holden looked at her. "I want to help you, I really do. You still have time to make up for the things you've done, especially if you really mean it when you say you don't want to be anything like your Mom. Even if you did some stupid things I still think your Dad and brother care about you. I know we don't really know each other and we had a rocky start, but I'd like to change that."

Kassidy still thought that they would never get along, but she wanted to try and see if they could try to be friends. If that didn't work out too well then she'll know that this was a big mistake.

"You really want to help me?" Holden asked. "That's surprising."

"I think we've both found some surprises from each other. I may look like I'm not the type of person to ask for help, but that doesn't mean I don't want to help. I'm not heartless you know. So what do you say, you wanna start over and try to be friends?"

Holden was silent for a minute and thought about this. He then formed a weak smile. "Sure, I mean there's nothing wrong with us being friends right?"

"Right, and don't forget we still have a deal."

"I know, I know."

Kassidy smiled weakly. "Good, then you know." Kassidy noticed that it was almost empty in Tree Haven. She looked at Holden. "Let's follow some of them so we can find an entrance to get out of here. As soon as we get out of Tree Haven we need to search for Shade."

"Sounds good enough for me."

Without wasting any time, Kassidy and Holden took off from the ledge they were under and followed a few bats out of Tree Haven. After a couple of minutes of flying, they saw a hole some of the bats were flying through to get outside and they followed them and made their way through the hole-even though there were other holes they could've went through. It was dark outside and the stars were twinkling about as Silverwings were hunting for their food like beetles, mealworms, midges, mosquitos, and anything like that. Kassidy knew what some of these insects tasted like and she scaled them down to what tasted well and what tasted bland. Her favorite was tiger moths. They were hard to catch, but she managed to find a way to catch them.

Kassidy and Holden looked around them to see if they could see any sign of Shade's small bat figure. They flew around and Holden was struggling to fly, but he managed to stay in flight. So far there was no sign of him.

Kassidy and Holden then landed on a tree branch and kept looking for Shade because Holden was still trying to get used to the fact that he had wings. He almost fell from the sky one time and he almost fell from the tree branch as he landed on it, but he managed to keep his balance.

"Where is he?" Holden asked. "He can't be that hard to find, he's very small."

"I'm sure we'll find him," Kassidy said. "We just gotta keep our eyes and ears opened."

Holden looked at Kassidy and rubbed his arm in a nervous way. "Kass, do you find it ironic that the bats don't go out into the sun because it's the law?"

Kassidy had been thinking about it last night before she went to sleep. She had no idea why these bats had a law like that. She wondered if they did something wrong to deserve something like this. She wanted to ask Ariel or Shade about this, but they were all asleep by then. She wanted to know more about this and decided to ask Shade once she had the chance.

"Yeah, I did. It's actually quite interesting seeing as though I always assumed the only reason bats didn't go out into the sun was because they hated it."

"Why do you think this law exists?"

"I don't know, but I'm tempted to know why."

Holden was about to say something, but a voice intervened. "Hey!" A masculine voice said. Kassidy and Holden turned around to see three bats their age land on a tree branch higher than the one they were on. "Kassidy and Holden, right?"

The one bat that was talking to them was standing in the middle and he was taller and looked stronger than his two other companions. He had maya blue hair and it was the same color for his mane as well but he had some dark blue in it. He had pigeon blue fur and along with his wings being the same color, and light green eyes.

The one on the left was not in good shape like the other two. He had baby blue fur and it was the same color as his wings. He had a natural red mane and hair along with yellow eyes.

The one on the right was a female and she had buttercream hair and a light purple mane. She also had light yellow eyes along with mauve purple wings.

They were looking at Kassidy and Holden with interest like they were a piece of artwork put in a gallery. They were mostly looking at Kassidy however.

"Guilty as charged," Kassidy said.

"I'm Chinook-" Chinook then gestured to his two companions, "and this is Todd and Breeze." Chinook examined them some more. "Are you guys actually humans?"

"We sure are, man," Holden said.

Chinook then looked at Kassidy and smiled at her. "And is it true that you're actually a witch and you transformed Holden and yourself into bats?"

Kassidy knew what that look meant. This was the kind of look she saw in school when the boys were trying to flirt with the girls so they could score a date with them. She has never fallen under that kind of spell and still hasn't to this day. She never understood how or why these girls fell for these kinds of boys easily. Every time she saw a guy in the hallway flirting with one of the girls she would see the girls giggle at almost everything the guys would say and it always made her roll her eyes.

She never had a boyfriend or even a crush on a boy before. She'd always assumed that sort of stuff was just distractions and kept you from doing what you wanted to do. She was not all about romance and preferred to focus on making her goals happen. She definitely wanted to start a family with someone, but she wasn't ready for it and she would be when the time was right. Right now it wasn't a perfect time to think about that right now.

"Yeah, it's true," Kassidy said.

"Everyone's been talking about you guys," Breeze said. "Especially you, Kassidy."

"Yeah," Todd said, "a lot have been talking nonstop about you making that thing you call a choker around your neck float."

Kassidy didn't think that a lot would be impressed by her. _I guess I chose a pretty good spell._

"Wow, Kass," Holden said. "You're getting even more popular than me right now. Somehow I'm astonished by this."

Getting popular was not one of Kassidy's goals, but it somehow magically happened all the sudden without a goal of any sort. She didn't care about the popularity, but when it comes to certain people all she wants out of them is respect and loyalty for her. It was hard for her to find those sorts of people, but it was mostly her family that gave loyalty and respect to her and that's all she'll ever need from them.

"You think you could show us one of your magic tricks?" Chinook asked. "We didn't get to see you do your other magic trick."

"Look, guys," Kassidy said. "I'd like to show you one of my spells, but-"

"Come on, please? Just one spell and that's it."

Holden used the back of his hand to cover his mouth and he started to whisper towards Kassidy. "It wouldn't hurt to do one spell. I mean we got time to find Shade, right?"

Kassidy breathed through her nose and was not in the mood to do any spells. She wanted to get to her jeep and not entertain anyone. However, Chinook, Todd, and Breeze were looking at her with pleading eyes. She wanted to say no and that they had to be somewhere, but she knew that if she turned them down they'll keep asking her and the more they asked her the more she would get annoyed by them and then eventually burst into flames and if she burst into flames they would instantly get frightened by her. She didn't want to get on any Silverwings' bad side and if she did this she would instantly get herself kicked out.

Deep down, Kassidy wanted to scowl at them and tell them to fly off, but she didn't want to judge them yet, seeing as though she just met them. After all, she couldn't entirely blame them for being curious, they never even seen a witch before or even seen magic done before. "Alright, but just one spell and that's it, understand?"

"Yeah, we understand," Chinook said. "We totally understand."

Kassidy looked around the forest to see what she could do for a spell, nothing dangerous, but something that these guys wouldn't be scared of. She wanted to do something different, something having to do with nature. As she looked her eyes caught a glimpse of the ground and that's when an idea hit her.

She flew towards the ground and then landed and as soon as she did she got on her knees. She put her hands on the ground and she imagined an orange lily sprouting. She pictured the light orange around the edges of the petals, with dark orange around the middle of it, and then stretching into lines on the petals. She also pictured the green stem, the ovary, the filament, the anther, and anything else to make it look like a lily so it would be lifelike. When focusing on her spells she has to always get the detail right or else it wouldn't work and the spell would be a complete flop. Some of the spells she was learning were easy, but the other spells not so much and that's why some of them were a success while some of them were failures.

As Kassidy was picturing the lily a small stem slowly began to show itself from the ground. The stem then started to grow more from an itty bitty little stem to a beautiful grown lily. The lily was exactly how Kassidy pictured it and it was very lifelike and this earned a foursome of wows from Holden, Chinook, Todd, and Breeze.

Kassidy got up from the ground and as she did, Holden landed beside her while Chinook, Todd, and Breeze landed near the lily and looked at it in awe. They were whispering to each other and saying how awesome that was and such.

"Not too shabby, Kass," Holden said. "I actually didn't think you were going to do a flower. I kind of thought that you would do something to your personal taste like a Venus flytrap."

Kassidy looked at Holden. "Even though I wanted to do something like that I didn't want to scare them. I'm not a fan of flowers, but this looked much more harmless for these guys to look at."

"So, are you guys up to something?" Kassidy and Holden looked at Chinook. "We wanted you to join us for some fun."

Kassidy wasn't in the mood for any fun right now and really wanted to find Shade. Even though this might've been something Holden would've been up for, she wanted him to stay focused. This was no time to be playing games. "Sorry, Chinook, but we're actually looking for Shade, he was supposed to be helping us find my jeep but we can't seem to find him. Do you guys happen to know where we can find him?"

Chinook, Todd, and Breeze looked at each other and then they started to laugh like hyenas. Kassidy furrowed her brow and looked at Holden with a confused look on her face. Holden was confused as Kassidy and he just shrugged his shoulders. Kassidy looked back at the trio of Silverwings. "What?"

Chinook, Todd, and Breeze settled down, but still had a look of amusement on their faces. Neither Kassidy nor Holden were amused and waited for one of them to answer. "You guys asked the runt for help?" Chinook asked. "He can barely keep up with anyone. You guys should've came to me because I happen to be a skilled flyer."

Kassidy didn't like what Chinook called Shade. He was small but that didn't mean he was useless. She had no problem with him and yet these three were making fun of him because he wasn't the same height as them. "I don't like the way you're talking about Shade and for your information 'Chinook', _you_ don't know where my jeep is, but Shade does. He at least knows where to start, unlike you, you dumb ass."

Chinook held up his hands as if a cop told him to do so. "Whoa, no need to say things harshly." Chinook then lowered his hands. " And so what if he knows where your jeep is? He's just going to slow you down, but me, on the other hand, I can help you a lot faster." Chinook lifted his wings to show off how big they were. "He doesn't have wings like these."

"Oh, those are bat wings?" Holden asked sarcastically. "For a second there I thought those were chicken wings, my mistake."

Chinook lowered his wings and he looked at Holden and looked insulted by what he said. Todd and Breeze looked at each other as if they didn't expect Kassidy and Holden to find Chinook not impressive. Chinook then started to glower. "Funny," Chinook began, "I never would've thought that this would be something to come out of you, considering you don't know how to take off and did I mention to you that you scream like a girl?"

Todd and Breeze chuckled and as they did, all three of them were expecting Holden to get mad, but instead, he smiled at Chinook sarcastically. "I'm sorry, was I meant to be offended? The only thing offending me is your face."

Chinook's eyes widened in shock and anger while Todd and Breeze stopped chuckling and no longer looked amused. He looked like he wanted to punch Holden in the face. Chinook was about to say something, but a voice intervened. "Hey, is everything alright?" Shade landed next to Kassidy and she was glad he came in a perfect time before things got even more ugly. "I thought I heard arguing over here?"

"Everything's fine, Shade," Kassidy said. "In fact, we were just about to leave. Wanna help me lift Holden?"

Shade nodded and then he and Kassidy took off from the ground and Holden held out his arms so Kassidy and Shade could grab them. They lifted him and as soon as they were high off the ground, Kassidy and Shade released Holden and then he flapped his wings. They looked at Chinook, Todd, and Breeze and they just stared at them. Chinook, though, stared at Holden still angry, but he and his friends didn't say anything. Kassidy, Holden, and Shade then flew more into the forest, leaving the other three Silverwings on the ground still staring at them.

Shade looked over his shoulder at Kassidy and Holden. "You want me to take you guys to that jeep right now?"

"Yeah, that would be great," Kassidy said.

Shade nodded and led them to where he saw them in the jeep. As they were flying, Kassidy couldn't get over the fact that Chinook, Todd, and Breeze were making fun of Shade. It wasn't his fault he was small. Even as an animal there was still some who picked on others and Kassidy guessed that a lot couldn't escape that. Even for those who were different.

Shade looked over his shoulder back at Kassidy and Holden. "They were making fun of me, weren't they?"

Shade looked mad at the fact that even though he didn't hear Kassidy and Holden's conversation with Chinook, Todd, and Breeze, Kassidy knew that he kind of figured that they were talking about him. Not only did Kassidy feel bad for Holden, but she also felt bad for Shade as well. He looked as though he had to cope with this for a while and Kassidy couldn't understand why those guys had to be hard on him. She couldn't even imagine Shade having to deal with this.

Kassidy sighed and slowly nodded. "They were, but we weren't having it, so we told them off. You don't deserve this sort of treatment, Shade, no one does."

Shade's eyes widened in surprise. "You guys stood up for me?"

"We sure did, man," Holden said. "Although I wish I could've continued on with the conversation I was having with Chinook."

"Well you should at least be glad that Shade interrupted it," Kassidy said, "because if it continued any further I can probably guess that you two would've gotten into a fight that would not have ended too pretty."

"I probably would've given him a taste of his own medicine though."

"It's not always the answer to solve your problems, Holden."

"Either way I appreciate what you guys did for me," Shade said as he was looking ahead of him. "No one's ever stood up for me like that before."

Kassidy couldn't believe that Shade had no friends to stand up for him. She knew however what it was like to not have friends. In Canada, she had no friends to talk to but when she was in America she had a couple of friends that were outsiders just like her. They may not have been a popular bunch, but they at least had each other's backs. When Kassidy had to leave Canada she had to leave her friends in America, but she always tried to communicate with them as much as possible. The school she had to attend to in Canada felt nothing like the school she attended to back in America. She had friends in America, but no friends in Canada.

_What did Shade ever do to deserve this crap he's getting?_

"No one? Not one single bat?"

"No. When Chinook and the others were ready to take their first flight I still had to cling on to my Mom because I was so weak. No one thought I would make it, but I proved them wrong, but some of the Silverwings my age picked on me because of my size and I hated it. I still do."

"Shade, don't let them get to you. Even though you're not as big as the others you have a lot of advantages with your size. You can fly through small holes for example to catch your prey or to get away from predators. Plus you're very friendly, you could've let someone else help us but you stepped in anyways. If I was you I would've done the same thing."

Shade looked over his shoulder at Kassidy. "You mean it?"

"Would I be telling you this right now if I didn't?"

"Kass has got a point," Holden said. "I agree with what she said."

Shade smiled. "Thanks, you guys are actually pretty cool. Sorry, I didn't wake you up; my Mom wanted me to get some food so I could be ready for the migration."

"It's okay, Shade," Kassidy said. "We understand, it wasn't too hard for us to find our way out anyways."

They flew for a while and while they did they asked each other some questions, but it was mostly Shade that was asking the questions and Kassidy, Holden, and Shade answered each other's questions the best they could. When Kassidy asked Shade why they weren't allowed into the sun she was surprised when he told her that he had no idea. All he could tell her was that everyone had to follow this law no matter what.

* * *

"Look, there it is," Shade said.

After a few minutes of flying, they managed to find Kassidy's jeep. Holden was relieved to know that they found it and that he could finally go back to his human self once Kassidy got her necklace. As they got closer to it, he saw that the jeep was in very bad condition. He had no idea how they could've survived that sort of crash, they could've died. They were too young to die anyways.

Holden had no idea what he was going to tell his Dad and brother once he got home. He knew he didn't want to tell them the actual truth because for one: he promised Kassidy he would keep her identity as a witch a secret and two: if he told them that he was a bat and that he was saved by bats they probably would've thought that he was crazy. Holden ran through some lines in his head so he could prepare for his talk with Lewis and his Dad but none of them seemed to make sense to him, but the car crash made sense because it actually happened. He could already tell that he was going to be telling somewhat of a fake story to not only his Dad and Lewis but also his friends and girlfriend.

He thought about maybe asking Kassidy to help him come up with a fake story to tell everyone so it would make sense, mostly because she was pretty smart and clever. He had no idea how Kassidy could manage to keep her powers a secret for a while, but she managed to until she turned them into bats. He hated to admit it but he was pretty jealous of her. Not only because she was smart, but because she was a witch. She could do anything with her powers, like transform into an animal. He was also jealous by the fact that she could take off without any problems and yet he couldn't do that and it was embarrassing for him.

Holden, Kassidy, and Shade landed on the roof of the jeep to rest and Holden almost fell off the jeep while landing but luckily Kassidy managed to save him in time before he fell. Holden couldn't believe he managed to make it this far without faltering with his flight. Flying and landing were very hard for him and he wished that he didn't struggle this much. He felt like a toddler again and he probably thought that Kassidy and Shade were thinking the same thing.

_Can't wait to get out of this body, _he thought.

"I'll go grab my necklace," Kassidy said. She then flew through the window of her jeep and Holden expected her to get the necklace at least under ten seconds, but she didn't. She was still in the jeep and she didn't come out. "What the hell? Where is it? Where's our stuff? It's all gone!"

Holden's eyes widened and he noticed that Shade looked confused. Holden could tell that this didn't sound too good.

"What?" Holden asked. He carefully grabbed under the roof and carefully lowered his head to look inside the jeep. He was shocked to find that their stuff was gone. No phones, no bags, and no necklace. All that remained in the jeep was the damage given. Holden stood up. "No! We got robbed! Great, this is just what I needed!"

Holden and Shade jumped all the sudden when they heard pounding coming from the inside of the jeep. Holden then heard Kassidy breathing angrily as soon as the pounding stopped, but he heard her trying to calm down. He has noticed lately that whenever she gets angry she takes deep breaths just to try and calm down. He then figured she didn't want to be the one to freak out and go crazy… unless there was some other reason why she did this.

Kassidy got out of the jeep and she landed on the roof again. "Okay… looks like we'll have to go with plan b. We'll go to my house and get my Uncle's help. I don't think it's far from here."

Even though Kassidy looked like she was calm, Holden could tell she was about as angry as he was about this. He looked at Shade and he was looking at him with confusion still. He then looked back at Kassidy. "I thought he doesn't know how to use magic?" Holden asked.

"I said he doesn't _really_ know how to use magic. He has a necklace kind of like mine and with it, he can transform us back."

"How can we talk with him though? He won't understand."

"You know there's a thing called writing messages, right?"

First his embarrassment for not knowing how to take off and now the fact that Kassidy stated the obvious answer to this situation. His brain felt like it wasn't functioning properly and maybe the car crash was the reason why he couldn't think properly. He already felt stupid right now.

Kassidy looked at Shade. "Shade, you don't have to come with us if you don't want to. We wouldn't want your Mom to worry."

"My Mom may be protective of me, but I'm sure she can handle me being gone for a while. Besides, you guys are my friends and I wanna help."

Holden didn't think he would make friends with a bat, considering he hated them. Maybe he was too hard on them and didn't actually give them a chance. Maybe Kassidy was right when they were in her jeep. Maybe he was actually the one being blind because he didn't see anything great about bats.

"Well we should probably get going then," Kassidy said. "This is going to be one long night."

The three of them took off and Kassidy lead the way to her house. As they were flying, Holden realized that he didn't eat anything this morning. He felt like eating a whole horse right now. Maybe as soon as they transformed back into humans he could ask if he could have something to eat. He certainly didn't want to eat insects for his meal.

After a few more minutes of flying, Kassidy dove towards a house that stood alone near the woods. Shade did the same thing, but Holden lagged behind because he almost lost his flight again. _Stupid wings._

They then landed on a ledge that was near a window and as soon as they did, Kassidy cupped her hands on the windows and looked inside. Shade watched as Kassidy was looking inside while Holden looked around his surroundings to keep himself somewhat busy and not stare at Kassidy. After a minute of silence, Kassidy leaned off the window and Holden noticed Kassidy looked shocked by something. Her jaw was dropped and she didn't move.

"Kass?" Shade asked. "Are you okay?"

"What the hell?" Kassidy mumbled to herself.

Kassidy held her hand towards the window and then with a quick up motion of her hand, the window slid up and was opened and as soon as it was, Kassidy flew inside fast. Holden and Shade looked inside to see why Kassidy was acting strange and what they saw made their jaws drop. The inside of the house was damaged. Everything was broken, torn, or shattered to pieces. It looked like the inside of one of the haunted houses that Holden went to.

Holden and Shade flew inside the house and landed on the ground and watched as Kassidy flew to each room stressed and worried. No one seemed to be in the house besides them. Kassidy then landed on the ground after-minutes of flying-near them and she was breathing hard and had her hands in her hair.

"Is this what the inside of your house looks like or is this something new?" Holden asked.

Kassidy looked at Holden and Shade and they were now getting worried like her. Kassidy stopped breathing but still had her hands in her hair. "They're… gone," Kassidy said. "They're all gone…"

* * *

The two figures were in the shadows of the trees as they saw Kassidy, Holden, and a runty looking bat get in the house. The male figure could already see the reactions on their faces right now and this could only make him smile on the inside. Kidnapping that family was by far very fun for these two. He replayed the kidnapping over and over in his head and it was very satisfying to watch. The fear and the screams were the best part of the kidnapping.

They noticed that the runty bat looked like Kassidy and Holden's new companion and this was very amusing to the both of them. They couldn't believe that a small and weak little bat was with them.

This looked like a good opportunity to kidnap Kassidy, but that would only be too easy. The male figure wanted to watch as she gets more stressed by the fact that her family got kidnapped. Watching people suffer was what the male figure liked to see. After all, she would see her family soon, but not right now. This then gave him an idea.

The male figure grabbed hold of his green pendant that was hanging from his necklace and then looked at his female companion. They smiled at each other and chuckled.

* * *

**A/N- Hey, guys, I actually wasn't expecting this to be a long chapter, but I'm finally finished. In the next chapter, I can tell you for sure that things are going to get crazy. That's all you need to know for now and until then, I'll see you guys later.**


	6. The Sun

**Chapter 6**

**The Sun**

* * *

A few days have passed since Kassidy, Holden, and Shade made their journey to the jeep and Kassidy's house. Over these last few days, Kassidy has been getting more and more worried about her family. She has been trying to put together who could've been the thief and kidnapper, but she didn't know who it could've been. She thought that maybe her Aunt or Uncle had an enemy that despised them but she has never heard either of them talking about someone that hated them. She went back to her house along with Holden and Shade to see if there was some sort of evidence that her family had enemies, but there was nothing. Not one single trace.

However the night that Kassidy, Holden, and Shade saw that the house was damaged, Kassidy saw a note lying on the kitchen table. When she read the note she felt her blood go cold. Reading it out loud to her friends only made her want to rip her own ears out so she wouldn't have to hear it. After she read it she ripped it into shreds and the feeling of anger almost got out of control like when she pounded her fists inside her jeep. Not only did her stuff get stolen, but also Holden's but her family got kidnapped by someone she didn't even know who. However, before her anger could get too out of control she managed to try and calm down but remembering that note over and over again could only anger her.

_**Dear Kassidy,**_

_**You may be wondering why the inside of your house looks like a total mess and why you can't find your family. Well the reason being is because I kidnapped your family and don't worry about them they're in good hands. Try to find them all you want but you'll never find them and the reason being is because I'm very good at hiding things. I would give you a clue as to where you could find them, but making things difficult for people is too much fun. Good luck in whatever situation you're in right now, you're going to need the luck anyways. You don't know me but soon you will.**_

_**From,**_

_**Anonymous**_

She didn't know who was responsible for this but she was determined to find him or her and make them pay for what they did. She was determined to solve this mystery.

When Kassidy, Holden, and Shade got back to Tree Haven, they went to the elders and Kassidy, Holden, and Shade explained the whole situation to them. All of them besides Bathsheba listened to them carefully and worried. After they finished their story, Frieda suggested to Kassidy and Holden that they should travel with them so they could get the help they needed. Of course, Bathsheba was not too thrilled with this, but Frieda's decision was final. Kassidy and Holden thanked them, but they didn't know who they could go to for help when they migrated with the colony. Kassidy suggested that they could find someone that had magic like her and she said the only way they would determine if someone had magic is if they possessed a pendant mark on their palm. But they both knew that it would take a while before they could even find someone that possessed the star mark on their palm like her.

Kassidy didn't want to go back to that house after she, Holden, and Shade went back there a second time. She knew that she was no longer safe anywhere. She didn't know what kind of threat this person had, but she didn't want to think this person was _harmless_. This person sounded dangerous, but who was he or she and what did they want? Holden, Shade, and Ariel would try to calm her down and try to reassure her that everything would be fine and things would get fixed as soon as possible whenever they saw her looking worried.

Ariel was very hospitable to Kassidy and Holden and made sure they were getting what they needed like Shade. She told them that they should be feeding on insects so they could prepare for the migration and Kassidy was perfectly fine with that, but Holden wasn't. He didn't want to eat any insects and insisted that he could have some berries instead, but when he tried to eat blueberries he immediately spit them out because he found the flavor of them to be gross. Kassidy and Shade warned him that they wouldn't taste good if he tried to eat them but he did so anyway. Even though Kassidy was still worried sick about her family she knew she couldn't go light headed before the migration started, so she ate all that she could.

Kassidy and Shade managed to take the time to help Holden with his flying and hunting. They taught him all he needed to know and he did complain sometimes, but he tried to do as they say. Holden got better at flying and landing better, he even managed to finally learn how to take off from the ground. Holden was still working on his hunting skills but he was getting better and soon would be where Kassidy and Shade were. Whenever he couldn't catch one insect he would usually fly out of control and crash into something, like a lake. Kassidy and Shade tried not to laugh but sometimes they couldn't help themselves, but they would cheer him up.

Kassidy was flying in the forest trying to catch a beetle and she didn't take her eyes off it. She produced a net of sound on it, but in a very fast movement, she used her wing to guide the beetle towards her mouth and as soon as the beetle was near her mouth she opened it and started to chew on it as soon as it touched her tongue. It tasted exactly like chicken as she was chewing on it and swallowing it. After finishing up her beetle, she rejoined Holden and Shade on the tree branch they were hanging out on. When she got to the tree branch she planted her feet on it and swung upside down.

"I don't know about you guys," Kassidy started, "but I don't know if I can eat anymore. I'm pretty much filled up."

"Same here," Holden said. He then looked at Shade. "I don't know how you guys manage to do this without barfing it all up. This is kind of like eating too many sweets."

Shade laughed. "Well, this is how we've always done things around here. Even though I'm feeling stuffed as well I think I'll go for one more insect."

Even though Kassidy knew a lot about bats, she was learning something new from them. She even learned that bats honored a goddess named Nocturna. She wasn't a religious person and didn't go to church, but she didn't judge anyone's beliefs. She found it quite interesting that even some animals worshipped a god/goddess of their own and that it wasn't just humans. This was kind of like the books she read.

A few days ago, Kassidy's eyeliner had been smearing all over her eyelids, so she had to wash it all off so she wouldn't deal with it so often. She didn't mind the fact that she had to get rid of the eyeliner; she was, in fact, glad because she didn't like to wear it whenever she was in nature.

Flying past the three friends was a tiger moth and that immediately got Shade's attention. Kassidy knew what Shade was thinking and she saw that he was smiling at it. "I call dibs on the tiger moth," Shade then took off from the tree branch and went after the tiger moth.

Shade had been talking about wanting to catch a tiger moth for a while and this was his big moment. Kassidy and Holden watched as Shade pumped his wings, used his echo vision on the moth, and kept his eyes on it. They saw the yearning in his eyes for that tiger moth as he chased it down through the forest and through different things like a log. He even flew through tight openings just to try and catch it.

He was close to catching it, but the tiger moth started to duplicate into other ones just to trick Shade. Shade tried biting into all of them to find the real one, but all of them were the same projections. "Hey!" Shade shouted as the moth was getting away, but he kept flying after it and kept producing a net of sound.

"Shade, you got this!" Kassidy shouted towards Shade. "Be smarter than the moth!"

"Come on, Smalls!" Holden shouted towards Shade. "We believe in you!"

Smalls was a nickname that Holden gave to Shade, but he made sure that if it was okay with him that he called him that. Shade didn't mind and he said it was better than being called a runt. He hated being called a runt. Quite frankly, Kassidy and Holden didn't like that anyone called Shade a runt either.

Because of Kassidy and Holden's support, Shade flapped his wings more and was now close to catching the tiger moth. Shade smiled and was about to snap his teeth on the moth, but out of nowhere someone flew in fast and knocked Shade out of the way and caught the tiger moth and this caused Shade to spin in the sky like he was a dancer piece in a music box, but he managed to stay in flight before he crashed into anything.

Kassidy was about to shout to Shade and ask if he was alright, but she all the sudden heard cheering. She and Holden looked to see what the commotion was and they saw that it was Chinook, Todd, and Breeze on a different tree branch a few wing beats away from them and in Chinook's mouth was the moth that would've been Shade's.

Holden threw his hands up and then threw them down. "Are you kidding me?"

"Way to go Chinook," Todd said impressed.

"Who's the bat?" Breeze said. "You the bat." Chinook swallowed down his moth with pride and this could only make Kassidy annoyed. Kassidy could tell that Holden was annoyed by this as well. "Cool technique."

"I know," Chinook said as he finished down the moth.

"That tiger moth never saw what hit him!" Breeze swung her fist in the air which could only make Kassidy roll her eyes.

"Ha! Neither did Shade." Chinook and his two sidekicks laughed.

Kassidy rolled her fingers into fists but didn't dare try to fly over to them and punch either of them in the face even though she wanted to. She repeated in her head to calm down and don't use violence on them. It was bad enough her family was kidnapped and she didn't want any more problems than there already was. She just wanted to try and have fun with Holden and Shade, but no, these guys came in and ruined the fun. Even though Kassidy wanted to focus more on finding her family than having fun, she didn't want Holden and Shade to worry about her too much.

Shade flew over to the tree branch Chinook was on and hung upside down on it and he was not too happy. He stared at Chinook very angry-even though he was clearly out of breath. "I could have had him!"

Chinook smiled smugly at Shade. "Coulda-woulda-shoulda." He said as he poked Shade in the chest, which caused Shade to fall from the branch onto the next one below.

Kassidy growled and bared her teeth and took off from the branch she was on towards the tree the others were on. "Hey!" Chinook, Todd, and Breeze jumped at the sound of Kassidy's angry voice and they looked at her. Kassidy landed on the tree branch Shade fell on and kept baring her teeth at them. "Don't you ever touch him again and if you do I'll make sure to grow plants out of your ear holes."

All three of the Silverwings had their eyes widened and Kassidy noticed Chinook looked a little disturbed by what she said. At this point, she didn't care about what she said and all she cared about was standing up for Shade. Kassidy looked at Shade and held her hand out to Shade to take. Shade looked at Kassidy's hand and then grabbed it and then Kassidy pulled him up to his feet as Holden landed next to them. Shade then dusted his arms.

"You alright?" Kassidy asked.

Shade looked at Kassidy. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, he's fine," Kassidy, Holden, and Shade looked at Chinook and Kassidy bared her teeth again at him. "He's just a little clumsy."

"Shut up, man," Holden said. "You're the reason why Shade fell off from that branch."

"So?"

"So," Kassidy began, "if he would've fallen down to the ground and not this branch here-" Kassidy gestured to the tree branch she, Shade, and Holden were on, "he would've seriously gotten himself hurt and we all know who that will be blamed on."

"Relax he's fine for now." Chinook looked at Shade. "Don't sweat it, runt, only the best hunters can see through the moth's echo protection."

Shade looked at Chinook annoyed. "Echo protection? The word is echo projection and don't call me runt!" Shade pointed at Chinook.

_Wow, Chinook's stupider than he already looks, _Kassidy thought.

"Really?" Chinook said clearly not caring and he turned his back on Kassidy, Holden, and Shade. "Now where was I when I was forced to yet eat another tiger moth?"

Kassidy, Holden, and Shade looked at each other and they all knew what they were thinking. Shade sighed and rolled his eyes. "Here comes another one of Chinook's bragging speeches." He said while whispering.

At the sound of Shade's voice, he was clearly not looking forward to hearing what Chinook had to say. Kassidy knew exactly how he felt.

"You were telling us about your Dad," Breeze said while pointing her finger at Chinook.

Kassidy's heart sank when Breeze said the word, _Dad_. Even thinking about that word could only make her feel depressed for some reason even though she tried not to think about that day with her and her parents. Maybe the reason she felt depressed all the sudden was because now she was going to hear Chinook talk about his Dad that was currently alive.

Kassidy got along very well with her Dad and they were like best friends. They had a lot in common and her Mom even said that she was like the mini version of him. In fact, she looked a lot like him. He always found a way to make Kassidy smile and when he did she would usually start to glow very brightly. Whenever Kassidy had her bad days, her Dad would always try to find a way to cheer her up and when he did she would cheer up. He was a smart and wise man and Kassidy admired him for what he did, sadly though she would never hear his or her Mom's voice ever again. After they passed away, Kassidy had been seeing a psychiatrist in Canada and as she kept going to the psychiatrist she slowly started to feel better.

Kassidy didn't want to hear about Chinook's Dad, but she decided to zip her mouth and hear what Chinook had to say.

"Oh, he's big." Chinook swung upward fast and raised his wings up as wide as he could. "Big enough to kill an owl!"

Kassidy stared at him with her eyes narrowed and was not impressed. She knew he was lying. _Really, that's what he wanted to say about his Dad? Jesus Christ._

"Wow…" Breeze folded her hands and she tilted her head to the side and stared at Chinook with a dreamy look in her eyes very impressed.

Todd, on the other hand, looked at Chinook with a hint of confusion in his eyes. "That's… even bigger than what you said last time."

Holden all the sudden burst out laughing and this made everyone look at him, Chinook especially. He looked at him with his eyes narrowed. "What's so funny?"

Holden tried to stop laughing, but he kept laughing. "Man-" Holden laughed more and then he wiped away the tears from laughing too much. "That's a good one. Clearly, you worked so hard to come up with something so funny like that. I'll give it to you, that was pretty funny."

Chinook flew off from the branch he was on and landed near Holden and got in his face. "You calling me a liar, turd? My father's huge!"

"No, I'm calling you a comedian. Yes, I'm calling you a liar. It's obvious that's not true because if it was you'd be the size of what you say your father is, but you're not. I'm not an expert on bats but I can tell that you ain't telling the truth, fairest liar of them all."

"Holden's right," Kassidy said. "Besides if you know what your Dad is like, how is it remotely possible that you know that if you've never even met him before? It's obvious that you're lying because none of the newborns here have seen their Dad. Not even you."

Chinook stuttered and he rubbed his neck. "Um… well, my Mom told me…" Kassidy cocked her eyebrow up to see what else Chinook had to say. "Okay… so my Dad has never killed an owl. I got carried away, okay? But trust me, when we get to Hibernaculum you'll see that he's pretty big." Chinook looked at Shade and pointed at his wings. "If your runty little wings can make the migration."

Shade glowered at Chinook while Kassidy kept staring at Chinook with her eyes narrowed.

"Big, schmig," Holden said. "Shade's going to make it. Well since we're going to be talking about our Dads here I might as well get on telling you all about my Dad."

Kassidy couldn't believe that Holden was now going to be talking about his Dad like it was show and tell. Kassidy could even tell that Shade couldn't believe that Holden was about to talk about his Dad like it was a contest for the best Dad ever described.

Kassidy covered the side of her mouth with the back of her hand and whispered towards Shade: "Am I the only one finding this dumb?"

Shade used the back of his hand to cover the side of his mouth and whispered towards Kassidy. "If I'm being honest right now, I'm finding this dumb as well."

"My Dad is a very rich guy," Holden began. "He can basically afford to buy anything, just name what you want and he gets it in a snap." Holden snapped his fingers.

_Not everything, _Kassidy thought.

"You wanna know what my Dad works as to get that kind of money? A dentist."

"What's a dentist?" Todd asked.

"Someone who basically checks your teeth to see if they're healthy or not," Kassidy said.

"Yeah, what she said," Holden said. "Because I live with a rich Dad I get to do whatever I want."

Kassidy couldn't believe now that Holden was sort of lying like Chinook. She appreciated that he was standing up to Shade but she didn't like the fact that he was showing off like Chinook was. She could tell though that he was doing a good job of getting under Chinook's skin because Chinook looked pretty jealous of what Holden was saying. Todd and Breeze, on the other hand, were looking at Holden impressed as if he redeemed himself from not being like a bat.

Holden kept talking about his Dad and his life with some lies in it and Todd and Breeze listened interested while Chinook looked like he was about to attack Holden at any moment. While Holden talked, Kassidy and Shade were already getting bored. Kassidy really wanted to do a spell that could mute his voice, but she didn't know how to do that which figures. She thought he was getting off track here and she was right. He kept talking and looked like he wouldn't stop.

_Holden, for god's sake, shut up!_

As if hearing Kassidy's thoughts, Holden finally finished. He was still the same guy at school that Kassidy saw talk a lot and this didn't even surprise her. She actually could compare him and Chinook right now because they were sort of similar. Holden was popular, Chinook was popular. Holden talked like he could be treated like a god and told lies, Chinook talked like he could be treated like a god and told lies. She already regretted comparing these two.

"All of what you said there is nothing," Chinook said still looking jealous. "My Dad-"

"Okay, we get it!" Kassidy shouted before Chinook could say anything else and everyone looked at her. "You both have Dads that are impressive. I don't think we need to hear anymore about your Dads."

Kassidy narrowed her eyes at Holden and Holden mouthed "What?" at her.

Kassidy noticed that Shade looked relieved that Kassidy stopped this before it continued any further.

"Sure…" Chinook said sarcastically. "We all have Dads that are impressive." Chinook then eyed Shade. "Well, most of our Dads anyways."

Shade bared his teeth at Chinook angrily and took a couple steps forward. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing much really… " Chinook lazily spread opened his wings and put them down after a few seconds. "Just the fact that your Dad was a phony and besides it's not like you're going to see him anyway."

Shade's eyes widened in anger. "Don't talk about my Dad like that!" Shade wanted to get near Chinook, but Kassidy put her wing in front of him to stop him.

Kassidy was now really furious with Chinook. He took it a step too far. Shade told Kassidy and Holden that he lost his Dad and he said that no one for sure knew what happened to him. He did say that the owls might've taken him, but he wasn't entirely sure, his Mom wasn't entirely sure, and everyone else wasn't entirely sure. It saddened to see Shade's grief for losing a Dad that he never even met before.

Kassidy could only imagine what that would be like if she grew up not having a Dad. She and her Mom would get into arguments sometimes, but it wasn't anything harsh between them. Even though they had arguments they would apologize to each other and try to forget about it.

"Your Dad was bad news!" Chinook said to Shade narrowing his eyes. "He was a troublemaker and a coward!"

Shade's eyes widened more, but he got angrier. "My Dad was not a coward!" Shade then mumbled under his breath: "You fruit bat."

"What did you call me, runt?"

Kassidy pushed Holden aside with her wing and got in Chinook's face which sort of scared Chinook. "Back off, you son of a bitch. If you have anything else to say to Shade, I'd like to hear them right now on this branch. You're sick to the bone and you know why? Because you don't care about Shade. A lot of us don't have Dads, Moms, or even both of them because of certain reasons and that's sad to think about! How would you like it if you lost your Dad or Mom? You think that would be a good subject to talk about?"

Chinook didn't say anything but kept staring at Kassidy with his eyes widened as did Todd and Breeze.

"You think because your Dad is so _brilliant_ you think you have the right to talk shit about others' Dads like that? Well let me tell you this, it's not a good subject to talk about and it will never be a good subject to talk about! A lot think you're cool, but you're not, you're a jerk."

"Umm… the sun's coming up," Breeze said as if wanting this conversation to end, but she was right. The dawn chorus sounded through the woods. "We gotta get back to Tree Haven."

"Come on, Chinook," Todd said as he and Breeze were getting nervous. "Let's go."

Chinook looked at his friends and nervously looked back at Kassidy and she was still staring at Chinook angrily. "Alright… let's fly." Chinook, Todd, and Breeze spread opened their wings and took off for Tree Haven.

Kassidy stared after them still angry, but she was surprised that fire didn't spread over her body. She was glad no one didn't witness her practically turn into a hot head. She turned around and saw Shade hang upside down on the branch and was looking towards where the sun was rising while Holden looked around him and listened to the night chorus kind of nervous.

"I guess we should start heading back as well," Holden said.

"Come on, guys," Breeze shouted towards Kassidy, Holden, and Shade.

"You guys go," Shade said looking back at the three Silverwings with a mischievous smile on his face. "Kassidy, Holden, and I are going to hang around here to see the sun."

Kassidy and Holden immediately looked at Shade fast and were shocked by what he said. "What?" They said simultaneously.

"Guys, please…" Shade said whispering as they heard Chinook, Todd, and Breeze bump into each other. Kassidy could only guess they weren't expecting to hear something like that from him. "I need you… I don't wanna do this alone. I wanna prove to them that I'm not just a runt and plus you guys have seen the sun."

"Man, have you gone mad?" Holden asked seriously. "That's-"

"See the sun?" Chinook asked as he, Todd, and Breeze landed near them.

Shade had a sarcastic smile and swung upward to look at Chinook. "You heard me."

"I heard you… I don't believe you."

"You can't be outside when the sun comes up," Breeze said while pointing her finger up very nervous. "The owls will kill you."

Kassidy saw that Holden looked disturbed by what Breeze said. He had his eyes widened. She then looked back at the other three Silverwings. "I understand that you guys aren't allowed to look at the sun, but what's even the problem with looking at it? The owls I can understand though."

"Don't you know?" Chinook asked. "If one of us even tried to look at the sun we'd turn into ashes."

"Well, whoever thought about that clearly hasn't seen the sun for themselves and if they did and they haven't turned into ashes they would've said they didn't turn into ashes."

"Exactly, Chinook," Shade said with his sarcastic smile. "You don't believe us? Then join us. Aren't you curious?"

"Shade…" Holden said under his breath not finding this funny.

Chinook looked hesitant, but he narrowed his eyes. "Maybe I am… runt."

"Are you out of your mind?" Todd asked seriously while pointing at Chinook. "It's against the law."

"It's a stupid law," Shade said with his eyes narrowed. "Kassidy and Holden have seen the sun so I don't see why we can't do the same." Shade looked at Chinook and brought back his sarcastic smile. "Right, Chinook?"

Chinook didn't say anything and looked as though he didn't know what to say and it seemed that Shade got to him and Kassidy could tell that Shade was trying to hold back his pride. As much as this did sound like a stupid idea she didn't see why it wouldn't hurt to check out the sun. Shade did have a point saying that this law was stupid and Kassidy thought that everyone should have the right to look at the sun. Besides, Shade was her friend and she didn't want him hanging alone with Chinook. Plus she knew this was a good opportunity to repay Shade for what he did.

"Guys… its morning and we should really be inside," Todd said as he took off.

"I'm with you, Todd," Breeze said as she took off to follow Todd back to Tree Haven.

Chinook looked from Shade, Kassidy, and Holden. "So… what are we going to do?"

"Get ourselves killed?" Holden asked. Chinook looked like he was going to fall to pieces just hearing what Holden said. Kassidy knew Chinook didn't like this idea, but she didn't like that Holden was thinking about them getting killed by owls. Kassidy didn't know if it was her or not, but it seemed that Holden would always say something that seemed like bad news every time. "Maybe we should head back to Tree Haven. I'd rather much go back there in one piece than lose any."

Shade crossed his arms and looked at Holden mad. "I thought you were my friend, Holden? I feel like you only care about your safety." Holden was about to respond, but Shade held up his hand. "You know what? Forget it, if you want to go back to Tree Haven then go back to Tree Haven." Shade looked at Chinook leaving Holden's jaw open. "I thought maybe we could fly up top, get a better view." Shade looked at Kassidy with hope. "You with me?"

Kassidy smiled weakly. "I sure am and I'm not going to let you do this alone with him. Besides, it's a stupid law like you said."

Shade smiled at Kassidy. "Let's go then."

"Okay… I guess." Chinook said.

Shade and Chinook took off, but Kassidy stayed and looked back at Holden pretty mad. She walked over to Holden. "I don't know why you got to act this way, but Shade's our friend and we owe him. If you really are Shade's friend then you'd have his back and go with us. It's not the first time you got into trouble you know."

Without waiting for Holden to respond, Kassidy took off to catch up to Shade and Chinook. Shade and Chinook were perched on a very high branch and were waiting for her. Kassidy landed near Shade and hung upside down. They all then looked to where the sun was rising. As Kassidy was looking she thought that maybe this wasn't such a good idea, but she wanted to do this for Shade. Plus she has always wanted to see a sunrise.

Then to Kassidy's surprise, Holden landed next to her. Kassidy thought that Holden didn't care and just wanted to go back to Tree Haven, but here he was next to her. Holden rubbed his arm as he looked towards where the sun was rising.

"What're you doing here?" Shade asked. "Shouldn't you be heading back to Tree Haven?"

Holden looked at Shade and looked guilty about almost leaving him and Kassidy behind. "Look, Smalls… I'm sorry. I should've been more of a friend than a butt head. To show that I'm sorry I'll stay out here… If you'll have me."

Shade and Kassidy looked at each other. They then smiled and looked back at Holden. "Yeah, you can stay," Shade said. "And you're right, you are a butt head."

"Yeah, you're a butt head," Kassidy said. "But welcome to the sun watching group."

Holden smiled weakly and then all three of them turned their attention to the horizon. All four of them said nothing but waited patiently for something to happen. The sky was now turning into a purple and as it did, Kassidy could feel a thrill inside her.

"Well," Chinook started while trying to smile. "I guess that's the sun… uh, let's head back."

"No," Kassidy said. "That's just the pre-glow. It'll get better though."

"Oh… you know Kass… you seem pretty smart and… you look as though you know a lot."

Kassidy looked at Chinook. "What can I say? I read a lot and don't bother trying to flatter me. It's not going to work, not after what you said to Shade."

Chinook's smile went down. He then looked around him nervously. "Sure hope there's no owls around…right?"

"What do you care?" Shade asked as he pointed at Chinook. "According to you, bats can kill owls."

"Hey… you know what I was just thinking? We can… not see the sun and uh… say that we saw it. How about that?"

Kassidy could tell in the hint of Chinook's voice that he wanted to get the heck out of here. There was no denying it really and if he so badly wanted to go back then she could've done a transportation spell-if she knew how. As she thought about it, that suddenly struck her like lightning. If owls did try to kill them she could try to do a transportation spell, but that could take a lot of time to figure out. She knew though that magic doesn't solve everyone's problems.

"Oh, really?" Shade said smiling sarcastically again.

Chinook nodded eagerly and then started to shake like he was a dog trying to hide from the fireworks that were exploding in the sky. Shade looked at Kassidy and Holden and without Chinook looking he used his thumb to point at him and was trying not to laugh. To Kassidy, it was sort of amusing seeing Chinook looking scared and this made her want to laugh, but she held her tongue. However, she understood that Chinook never looked at the sun and she could see why he would look scared. Shade looked back at Chinook and watched as he shook. Chinook tried smiling at them and tried to look as though he was perfectly fine. After a couple of minutes, he eventually couldn't take it anymore and took off towards Tree Haven.

As soon as Chinook was far enough away from them, Kassidy, Holden, and Shade looked at each other. They then slowly started to smile and then they burst out laughing. Kassidy knew this felt wrong, but she couldn't help herself and neither could the boys.

"Okay," Holden said, "I'll admit, that was something. Well… fun's fun but I think we should head back now. I think you proved your point to Chinook."

"Not yet," Shade said as he looked towards the horizon and crossed his arms. "I wanna see the sun for real."

Holden's smile went down and he didn't like what Shade said. "Smalls… this is crazy! We should head back. You won your contest against Chinook and I think you should be satisfied with that." Holden looked at Kassidy. "Kassidy, tell him we gotta go. If we die today, we'll know why."

"Holden," Kassidy started, "if he wants to see the sun then let him. I'd want to too if I was him. Plus I thought you were a trouble maker? Are you chicken?"

Shade turned his head to look at Holden as Holden's eyes widened at what Kassidy just said. Holden smiled sarcastically and crossed his arms. "Fine, I'll stay and watch the sun. Plus the only chicken that was in this group was Chinook and I ain't chicken."

"That look on Chinook's face though was hilarious," Shade said as he looked back towards the horizon. "Now for the grand finale we've all been waiting for."

"This should be something," Kassidy said.

Kassidy and Holden looked towards the horizon and waited for the sun to rise. After a few minutes of silence, brightness filled the sky and all three of them had to cover their eyes before they went blind. They all then put down their hands and wings and together they all watched as the sun slowly went up in awe.

* * *

**A/N- Hey, guys, I was hoping to write more in this chapter, but this was all I could do for now. I promise though that I'll get to the good parts. I don't know if I put enough description in this chapter****, but I hope that this was okay. I'll see you later.**


	7. The Three Lawbreakers

**Chapter 7**

**The Three Lawbreakers**

* * *

The way the sun came up and grew brightly fascinated Kassidy. Neither she nor the boys could stop staring at how magnificent the sunrise was and the light from the sun brought so much warmth to Kassidy. All her worries faded as she stared at the sun. It was like watching earth being created for the first time.

"It's so… beautiful," Shade said as he smiled towards the sunrise. "And… warm."

Kassidy found the sunrise to be beautiful as well and as she kept staring towards the sun she started to smile. As Kassidy smiled she began to glow like the sun.

"It sure is," Kassidy said. All the sudden, a screech sounded in the sky and when Kassidy saw what it was her heart sank. Coming towards them fast with its talons extended was a fierce-looking owl. Her eyes went wide and she gasped. "Guys, fly!"

Holden and Shade gasped when they saw the owl coming towards them and together, all three of them dropped from the tree branch and flew off towards Tree Haven before the owl could catch one of them and instead grabbed the tree branch. The three of them flew through the forest as fast as they could to get away from the owl and as they did, Kassidy could feel panic flowing through, but she didn't dare look back.

"This way!" Shade shouted towards Kassidy and Holden.

Shade led them through a log and as they flew through it, the owl's talons started to smash through the log to try and smash one of them, but they dodged the owl's strikes. Holden was close to being smashed by the talons and he yelped but he managed to maneuver out of its way. All three of them made it out and they continued to fly as fast as they could back to Tree Haven. They could hear the owl behind them and they were losing their breaths, but they kept going.

Kassidy saw a tree branch ahead of her and this gave her an idea. She used her hand as she was flying to concentrate on the branch and she imagined it being pulled and as she did she clenched her hand and as she did, the branch was pulling back. Kassidy looked back at the owl and then looked back at the branch and as soon as all three of them passed the branch, she unclenched her hand and then the branch smacked right into the owl sending it flying through the forest, leaving behind some feathers to float down to the forest floor.

"I got him!" Kassidy shouted.

"Guys, I knew this was a bad idea!" Holden shouted. "We're going to be the owls' next pellets!"

"Don't think about that, Holden! Just fly!"

All the sudden the owl came out of nowhere and its screech filled the air and it tried to attack one of them, but they all dodged it just in time. Kassidy dashed for Tree Haven and didn't look back at the owl. She just concentrated on getting back to Tree Haven as fast as she could. She flapped through the forest and focused on her main priority to getting back to Tree Haven. Kassidy could feel the carbon dioxide as she breathed hard, but up ahead of her she could see the hollow tree with its furrowed bark, and thick, gnarled roots buckling from the ground. Wasting no time she flew across a lake and flew towards Tree Haven. As soon as she got close to it she made her way inside the entrance-even though there were many other entrances she could fly through-and as soon as she got inside she landed and placed her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

Landing next to her was Shade and he was catching his breath and he looked scared. Kassidy and Shade looked at each other while still trying to catch their breaths. "Kass, you alright?" Shade asked.

"I'm fine," Kassidy said. She then realized something and looked towards the entrance. "Wait, where's Holden?"

Kassidy and Shade's eyes went wide when they heard Holden screaming. They quickly got to the entrance and looked outside. They gasped when they saw that the owl was chasing down Holden as he was trying as hard as he could to get to Tree Haven.

"Holden!" Kassidy and Shade shouted simultaneously.

Holden was flying across the lake and he was breathing hard. The owl was gaining on him and then all the sudden the owl pinned Holden underwater as soon as he got close to him. Thinking fast, Kassidy focused on the lake and pictured the lake being a wave and then with all her strength she used the wave of her hand to send a wave towards the owl. Not having a lot of time to process what was going on, the wave swallowed the owl into the lake. Holden swam up to the surface to catch his breath and he coughed. He then flew out of the water and flew towards Tree Haven. The owl got out from the water and screeched and then flew out of the water and continued to chase Holden down, and looked questioned about what just happened.

Kassidy and Shade shouted at Holden to hurry and that the owl was gaining and as they did, Holden flew as fast as he could and didn't look back. Then, Holden all the sudden burst through the entrance Kassidy and Shade came through and crashed into them before the owl could get him. All three of them plummeted to the floor and groaned and as they did they heard the owl screech one last time. They all got up and as Kassidy and Shade checked outside, Holden put his back to the wall and was catching his breath and he had his eyes wide very scared. Kassidy and Shade saw the owl fly away and all it left behind were deep claw marks on the ground of the entrance.

Kassidy and Shade then looked at Holden worried. "Holden, you alright?" Kassidy asked.

Holden didn't respond and kept trying to catch his breath.

"Shade Cassiel Silverwing!" All three of them looked to see that it was Ariel and she landed near them. She had a worried look on her face and she gathered Shade in her wings and hugged him. "Thank Nocturna you're safe." She then looked at Kassidy and Holden. "All three of you." She then looked angry. "What were you kids doing out there?"

Kassidy rubbed her forearm and she knew that she, Holden, and Shade made a big mistake of looking at the sun. She felt ashamed of not going back to Tree Haven like they were supposed to and she also felt ashamed of getting Ariel worried. She bit her bottom lip and didn't know what to say.

Shade got out of Ariel's hug. "Nothing…" he said nervously.

Ariel looked at Shade. "Nothing? That owl nearly killed you, kids!"

"We got away though."

"Do you have any idea of what you've done?" Ariel shook her head as she placed her hand on her head. "Oh, kids… you broke the law."

Kassidy, Holden, and Shade then heard whispering and they looked up including Ariel to find that the colony was staring at them. Some were looking at them shocked while others were looking at them angrily. Kassidy's eyes went wide and she then really did feel ashamed of what she and the boys did. She wanted to look away from everyone and shut these voices out, but she didn't want anyone to see that they were getting to her. The disappointment was everywhere around her and she thought it was her fault.

She then heard wing flaps coming towards them, and she saw that it was Todd and Breeze. They landed on a higher ledge near them.

"You guys are in so much guano," Todd said. "Chinook's going to be grounded for a week."

"Why?" Shade asked. "He didn't do anything-" he then lowered his voice, "that big mouse."

"So, Shade," Breeze said. "Did you, Kassidy, and Holden see it? You know…"

"Todd!" A feminine voice shouted and Kassidy looked to where she heard it. Three female bats were standing next to each other and they were mad. One of the females then pointed outward. "Roost!" Todd and Breeze's claws scraped against the ground as they moved forward and then they took off for their roost. The female bat-which Kassidy assumed was Todd's Mom-looked at Ariel. "Ariel, this has gone too far!"

"Far too far," Another one of the females said in the group.

Another female that was taller than the other two took off and then landed on a ledge that was high and near Kassidy, Shade, and Ariel. "Keep those lawbreakers away from my baby!" She then looked at Kassidy and pointed at her. "Especially that devil of a witch!"

Kassidy no longer felt shame, but felt anger and then she felt the flame surge through her veins and as she felt it she clenched her teeth in rage at what that female bat said-which she assumed was Chinook's Mom-and she turned her fingers into fists. Kassidy was about to stomp right over to the female bat and tell her off, but before she could, Ariel put her wing up in front of Kassidy. She looked at Ariel and then she realized she saw her get angry and she also realized she was about to get out of control if she yelled at Chinook's Mom. Kassidy couldn't believe she was about to lose it.

Ariel looked back at Chinook's Mom as she put down her wing and pointed at her. "Don't you ever call her a devil again, Isis."

Kassidy was surprised Ariel stood up for her and her anger dissolved. She didn't think Ariel would've done that, considering she broke the law but she was glad she was caring enough to do that.

Isis was about to say something, but all the sudden Holden yelled out in pain. Kassidy, Shade, Ariel, and a lot of the bats looked at Holden. Holden had his hand behind his back and he then took his hand from behind his back and looked at it. Holden's eyes were even wider and his hand was shaking.

"Holden, what's wrong?" Kassidy asked. She quickly got to Holden and looked at his hand and on it was blood. Kassidy's eyes went wide and when she looked at Holden, he looked like he was having a hard time standing and some of the color on him was draining. "Holden, you're bleeding! We need to get you help!"

"What's going on?" Ariel asked as she and Shade got near Kassidy and Holden.

"Holden's bleeding, he needs help!" Holden put his hand on his head and he was breathing hard. "Holden?" His eyes rolled in the back of his head and he then collapsed to the ground and this got most of the colony to gasp or scream. "Holden!" Kassidy saw that on Holden's back was a huge gash coming from his shoulder to lower back. Kassidy's heart was beating fast as she got on her knees next to Holden. His eyes weren't opening. "Holden, stay with me!" Kassidy looked up at the colony no longer caring if the colony was still shocked or mad at them and she was desperate. "He needs help! Please, he's losing a lot of blood!"

"Grab the boy and get the herbs we need!" Someone shouted in the colony.

A couple of bats flew down to Holden and grabbed him and flew him away to get the help he needed. Kassidy got up slowly and watched as Holden was being carried away shocked as did Shade and Ariel.

* * *

In the shadows perched on a tree branch, the two figures were in hawk forms. They were looking at an old and hollow looking tree which they found out was called Tree Haven when the male figure looked through Kassidy's eyes. The male figure was interested to know that Kassidy and her two friends broke a law. He saw through Kassidy's vision all the bats that were looking at her and her friends were shocked or mad and this made him smile seeing that. He could tell that when the one female bat named Isis called her a devil she got angry. The male figure knew Kassidy would've gotten out of control if that one female bat that called herself Ariel wouldn't have stopped her.

The male figure was delighted when he saw through Kassidy's vision that she and her friends were about to be killed by an owl and he sort of hoped the owl would kill her, but he wanted to do it himself. He saw that Kassidy looked like a tough and smart girl when she and her friends were escaping the owl. She managed to save them not once but twice in one day. This was only the beginning for her and her friends and he could feel it.

The male figure tried to see through Kassidy's eyes again, but when he did all he could see was a block. He got out of Kassidy's vision confused, but he all the sudden realized that Kassidy was blocking her vision to anyone. He then tried her two other friends, but he could only see a block and blackness from the boys. He clenched his jaw in anger.

_Clever girl,_ he thought.

It wouldn't stop him or his female companion, however. He would do whatever it takes to watch Kassidy, no matter what.

* * *

The next day, Shade and Kassidy were roosting on their usual ledge in Tree Haven. Ariel had grounded Shade and Kassidy and she was planning on doing the same thing to Holden as soon as he recovered from yesterday. They were allowed to hunt for an hour, but Ariel had to be close to them and they had to stay in Tree Haven until the migration. Shade tried to feel sorry for what he'd done, but it wasn't easy, especially when he realized he, Kassidy, and Holden were famous, at least to the newborns. A lot of the newborns were asking him and Kassidy a lot of questions and Shade was too happy to oblige, mostly sticking to the truth and he tried to make up a few details, but Kassidy made sure that he didn't. Kassidy though wasn't in any mood for storytelling or answering questions and mostly let Shade handle it because she was worried for Holden.

Even though Shade was delighted to tell the newborns of what happened, he was worried like Kassidy about Holden. He looked extremely pale when he was on the ground and Shade wished he could erase that from his mind, it was that disturbing to see a bat so injured. A lot of the Silverwings were doing all they could to help Holden, even his Mom was helping. He hoped Holden would make it and not die. He lost a Dad but he didn't want to lose a friend.

Yesterday the elders called upon him and Kassidy and they went to the elders and Ariel went with them. The elders did look disappointed they stayed outside to see the sun, especially Bathsheba and Ariel tried to protect Shade and Kassidy. Shade told them that he thought the law was wrong and this earned many gasps from the colony. He explained to them why he thought it was wrong, but Bathsheba didn't want to have it and suggested that he, Kassidy, and Holden should be turned in to the owls.

Ariel begged the elders not to let that happen and as kind, as Frieda was, she didn't want to turn in Shade, Kassidy, or Holden. The most mysterious thing about Frieda was the fact that she had a silver band on her left forearm and Shade never knew why or how she got it. Kassidy confessed to Shade when the elders dismissed them that she now noticed the silver band on her forearm. Kassidy then told Shade that what Frieda had was something that humans put on animals to track their movements so they can collect data and observe what some of the animals are doing and this got Shade interested.

Kassidy wanted to take the blame and when she said it was her fault for seeing the sun, Bathsheba immediately started to accuse her. Kassidy looked at Bathsheba very angry, but she tried to calm down. Shade was grateful to have a good friend like Kassidy, but he honestly didn't want her to take the blame alone, so he said it was his fault too. However he's noticed that Kassidy looked angry a lot, but whenever it looked like she would get too angry she would breathe calmly. Shade didn't question it and just thought she didn't want to cause trouble. But he knew it probably would've gotten out of hand yesterday with Isis if Ariel hadn't of stopped her.

He thought Kassidy was very brave and smart and didn't think anything could stop her. She wanted to save her family and he knew she was worried sick for them and he knew she didn't want him, his Mom, or even Holden to worry about her. Sometimes during the day she would talk in her sleep and then she would wake up breathing hard and sweating and whenever he, Ariel, or Holden woke up to see her awake and ask her about it she would say she was fine and say it was just a daymare. Shade sometimes wondered if Kassidy was hiding something disturbing, but he didn't want to get her angry and ask that question. What confused him though was the fact that Kassidy did a spell on him to prevent anyone from looking through his vision. He asked her why she did that spell and she told him that she had the strangest feeling that they were being watched by someone through magic. She also told him it lasts for almost a day and said that she needed to keep doing this spell for them, especially Holden.

Kassidy and Shade were hanging on the ledge quietly and waited for Ariel to bring back news of Holden. Shade looked at Kassidy and inspected her, but he didn't see her glowing. Yesterday when they saw the sun, he saw that Kassidy was glowing as she was smiling. Shade was amazed by not only the sun but the way Kassidy was glowing like the sun. It was like she was born from the sun when she was glowing.

"You think Holden's alright?" Shade asked.

Kassidy turned her head to Shade and her eyes were blood-shot red. She was having a hard time sleeping and she tried to sleep, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I hope so…" Kassidy said. "I don't know what I'm going to tell Holden's family if Holden dies. That's if I can find a way to get back to my normal self. This is my fault, if I would've known Holden was way far behind us I would've gone back for him and if he does die I'm never going to forgive myself…" Kassidy rubbed her arms and she looked down.

Shade didn't want Kassidy to feel this way, so he put his hand on her shoulder and when he did, Kassidy looked at him. "It's not your fault, Kass. You didn't know that Holden was far behind us and neither did I."

"I hope he doesn't end up like…" Kassidy stopped and Shade looked at her confused. "Never mind."

Shade put his hand down and decided to talk about a different subject. "So… that sun was something wasn't it? We didn't turn into ashes."

"Yeah… it was. If there's anything I know that would've turned into ashes if they went out into the sun is vampires."

Shade tilted his head to the side curiously. "What're vampires?"

"They're undead human beings that can transform into bats. They drink blood to fill their hunger." Shade felt disturbed by what Kassidy said. "I highly doubt you'll meet one though."

Shade breathed in relief. "And I hope I don't."

"Have you ever heard of gargoyles?"

"No."

"Gargoyles are part of a fantasy, but these creatures are pretty fascinating. They can roam and fly around at night, but when daylight comes they turn into statues."

Shade was interested to know about some more creatures Kassidy knew about that he didn't. He found it amusing that a lot of bats thought that if a bat looked at the sun they would turn to ashes, but that didn't happen to them. He was intrigued to know that there were other creatures that were sensitive to the sun and as he thought about it though this made him think about his Dad. Shade asked his Mom more about his Dad and she did the best she could to answer his questions. The one thing that his Mom told him yesterday while Kassidy was sleeping was that his Dad wanted to see the sun and this surprised Shade. He asked her why she didn't tell him this and she told him that she didn't want to give him any ideas. What relieved Shade though was the fact his Dad was not a coward like Chinook said.

Shade and Kassidy then saw Ariel land near them and Shade hoped she had good news. He didn't want to hear that something bad happened to Holden. She looked tired from helping Holden all day and looked like she could use some rest.

"How's Holden?" Kassidy asked. "Is he going to be okay?"

Ariel looked at Shade and Kassidy and nodded. "He'll be alright." Shade and Kassidy were holding their breaths and they breathed out relieved to hear that Holden was alright. "He in fact just woke up and he wants to see you two."

"Can we go see him?" Shade asked.

Ariel nodded. "I knew you two would've wanted to see him anyways. Now don't keep him waiting."

Shade and Kassidy looked at each other and then dropped from the ledge and then flew to where Holden was. They flew past older bats that were too old to hunt and preferred it inside Tree Haven. They both knew where they were going but Kassidy was much faster than Shade and Shade would give anything to have wings like Kassidy's. He harbored a secret fear that he wasn't strong enough to make the migration but he didn't tell anyone because he didn't want anyone to worry about him. He wanted to prove though that he could make it without any help whatsoever.

They eventually flew through an entrance to where Holden was and they stayed airborne, seeing where Holden was. They then saw he was on the ceiling and he was waving to them. "Hey, guys."

Shade and Kassidy flew to Holden and they got on either side of him as they landed on the ceiling. They looked at Holden's gash and on it, there were leaves covering it just like there were leaves covering his and Kassidy's wounds from that car crash. There was some sort of medicine on Holden's back that the leaves covered and Shade was glad he couldn't see Holden's gash. They then looked back at Holden concerned.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Kassidy asked.

"Well, the bad news is, is that it hurts a little." Holden then put his arms on Kassidy and Shade's shoulders and smiled at them. "But the good news is, is that I now have an interesting story to talk about." Kassidy and Shade smiled. "So… Ariel told me what happened… and she grounded me."

"Don't worry, she grounded us as well."

"So what happened while I was out?"

"You won't believe this," Shade said. "We're practically famous right now-well mostly with the newborns though."

Holden's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, they were asking questions nonstop."

Holden's smile then came back. "How did Chinook handle it?"

"He didn't want to hear any of it," Kassidy said. "So he stayed away. I'm probably going to guess that this is going to haunt him for a while."

"I now wish I would've been there."

Kassidy's smile went down and she looked concerned again. "It's pure faith that you managed to survive this. You really had us worried, Holden."

Holden and Shade's smiles went down. Holden sighed. "Well, I'm sorry I worried you guys. I can't promise something like this won't happen again, but I'll try to make it happen."

"Whatever you say, but we can't really blame you, you're still learning."

"Yeah," Shade said, "and besides, once the migration begins we'll make sure you don't end up in a tight situation."

"Hello, young ones," The three of them felt a rush of air and they looked to see that Frieda landed in front of them. She looked at Holden. "How are you feeling, Holden?"

Holden looked at Frieda surprised as he put down his arms from Kassidy and Shade's shoulders, but he managed to speak. "I'm getting better, Frieda, thanks for asking."

Frieda nodded and then looked from Holden to Shade to Kassidy. "Tell me about the sun."

The three friends looked at each other and no one said anything. Shade's tongue felt heavy as he looked back at Frieda and she looked at them with those piercing eyes. Her wings creaked as she folded them against her body, and he was aware of a slightly musty odor rising off her, the smell of age, he supposed. But she smiled at them, and her face wrinkled at the eyes, and Shade felt less nervous.

"Well, we saw it," he began hesitantly, and then stumbled on and he, Kassidy, and Holden told her everything they could remember. It wasn't much, but all of them, especially Kassidy, were eager to tell it, delighted really. Frieda listened carefully nodding, now and then.

"You've seen it too, haven't you?" Kassidy asked as if she could see Frieda's past.

"You're right, I have," Frieda said. "A long time ago."

"It's round, isn't it, like the moon?" Shade asked.

"Yes. But bigger. Even Kassidy and Holden know this."

He shook his head in amazement and he looked at his friends. He couldn't even imagine the brightness of it. He couldn't even imagine Kassidy and Holden standing under it and looking at it for a while. He then looked back at Frieda.

"You just wanted to see it like Kassidy and Holden get to? Like me?" He asked Frieda.

She nodded. "When I was younger, a lot of us did. Some were willing to die for it. Not like now. They don't care. They might think the law is unfair, but they aren't willing to fight it. Like Bathsheba. And in many ways they're wise. Look at Holden, look what almost happened to you and Kassidy."

The three friends looked at each other. Holden felt his back nervously and Shade could tell that he didn't want to think about almost getting killed by an owl. He almost got killed when he was underwater but luckily Kassidy managed to save him by using one of her spells.

Kassidy looked back at Frieda. "Why aren't you allowed to see it? I mean, I know it's the law, but why?"

"We're banished creatures, Kassidy, and have been for millions of years."

"Yikes," Holden said.

"Banished? For what?" Kassidy asked confused.

"Yeah," Shade said. "What did we do?"

"It's easier if you hear for yourselves." Frieda looked at Holden. "Are you good to fly?"

Holden nodded. "Yeah, I'm good to fly."

"Then follow me."

* * *

**A/N- Hey, guys, so there's chapter 7. You're probably wondering why I didn't include the part where Kassidy, Shade, and Ariel go see the elders and the reason being is because we all know what's going to happen. I won't be including a lot of scenes from the series mostly because I want to focus more on the main characters of this story. I hope you can understand that and be ready for the next chapter, later. **


	8. Echoes, Owls, and Fire

**Chapter 8**

**Echoes, Owls, and Fire**

* * *

Kassidy didn't know what to expect as she followed Frieda with Holden and Shade. She had no idea what Frieda meant by "Hear for yourselves". What was that supposed to mean? She didn't question Frieda but continued to follow her. They spiraled down the length of the great trunk and Kassidy couldn't help but marvel at the sheer size of the tree. She could tell that the boys were thinking the same thing as they looked around them. They continued all the way down until they landed on a mossy bottom. Holden was disgusted by how weird the moss felt and he gagged, but Kassidy was much more aware of how much cooler it was, and she could smell the strong scent of soil and wood. That was then she realized that they were beneath the earth. There was a small archway of gnarled wood and Frieda scuttled towards it on all fours and the three friends copied her and continued to follow her through, and then down and as they did, their echoes bounced harshly against the walls of the narrow passageway.

"Here we are," said Frieda up ahead.

Kassidy noticed that there was no longer a floor up ahead of them and Frieda flew down it. Shade was next and he opened his wings and swooped down in what Kassidy saw to be a large cave. She spread opened her wings and made her way down. She then looked at Holden and she saw that he wasn't paying attention and was still looking around him.

"Holden, watch your step," Kassidy said while airborne.

"Wha-" Before Holden could finish, he yelped when he didn't see that there was no longer a floor and fell but he managed to spread his wings out and flap them before he fell any further.

"Be careful, Holden," Frieda said. "I don't you to hurt yourself more."

Kassidy and Holden continued to fly behind Shade and Frieda and as they did, Kassidy could feel that it got colder in here. Winter would be here soon and she could feel it coming. She then heard the wind-or so she thought. She listened harder and she then realized that it wasn't the wind but rather it was voices. It was very low but there was no doubt about it, she was hearing voices-rather many of them actually. There was mumbling and every one of them sounded as though they were talking over one another.

"Is someone down here?" Holden asked. "I feel like I'm hearing things right now."

"You're hearing voices," Frieda said. "But there is nobody down here."

"Huh?"

"You'll see it more clearly when we get there. This way."

Kassidy was confused like Holden, but she kept quiet and they all then went deeper to the bottom of the cave, and then they landed on a narrow ledge. In a small niche in the rough stone, all three of the friends saw a panel of mud and mulched-up leaves. The voices were coming from behind it.

"Quickly now," Frieda told them and pushed through the soft center of the panel with her nose.

Kassidy, Holden, and Shade flew into a small, completely round, and totally deserted cave. But it wasn't truly deserted. All around them, like currents of warm air, were voices, moaning at their ears, getting caught in their fur, and their wings. Kassidy felt as though she stepped into an alien world but in an interesting way. She looked around her amazed as did the boys as they were airborne.

Frieda flew towards them and then stopped in midair. She pointed towards a long, lone, curly branch hanging from the ceiling. "Roost there."

Obeying her, all three of them landed on the branch and then Frieda joined them. The four of them then folded their wings tightly. Kassidy and Shade looked at Frieda, but Holden kept looking around him.

"This is… pretty creepy," Holden said. He looked back at everyone as if he was expecting anyone to make a comment about what he just said.

"I don't understand," Shade said. "Where are we?"

"This room is called the echo chamber," Frieda said. "It holds all of our colony's history, sung by Silverwings long dead. The walls of the chamber are polished so smoothly they will echo here forever."

The three of them looked around them again. The voices were everywhere around them, from males to females and Kassidy caught parts of what some were saying.

_"…in the winter of that year…"_

_"…owls took their revenge…"_

_"…fifteen newborns dead in the nursery…"_

_"…rebellion crushed after the battle…"_

Kassidy looked back at Frieda. "Who are all these voices?"

"These voices you hear, Kassidy, is from elders from many generations," Frieda said. "Every year one of the elders is appointed to sing the year's stories to the walls, and there they stay."

"How do you keep them all straight?" Shade asked as his ears flickered from one eddy of sound to the next.

"It takes a certain talent. Concentration, patience. Few can do it, but I have a feeling about you three." Frieda pointed at them.

"What do you mean? Do we just try to listen to them and pray that something will happen?" Holden asked. "There's too many of them, what are they saying?"

"You tell me, simply concentrate and listen. Not everyone has the gift."

The three of them looked at each other and then all of them closed their eyes. Kassidy could hear some of the voices getting louder and it felt as though there were actually people around her whispering to her.

"I hear so many voices… they're all speaking at once," Shade said.

"Pick one," Frieda said.

Kassidy did as Frieda said and concentrated. Nothing seemed to be happening but after a couple of minutes, she then started to notice something appear in her vision. She wanted to open her eyes, but she didn't want to lose this, so her eyes remained shut. She saw leaves that were big and this surprised her and it was as if she were moving through them like she was controlling her own avatar. Then a forest appeared before her.

"_Many seasons passed…" _Kassidy heard a voice speaking as she saw the vision. _"At the dawning of the ages…the birds and the beasts existed without order…" _She saw different animals appear and they were either prey or predators. "_No one knew the hunters from the hunted…All creatures struggled for their place in the world without boundaries or laws…" _ Kassidy started to see many animals kill one another, whether it was birds or beasts she saw them kill one another as if it was for sport. _"Alliances were formed and war was waged between the great two kingdoms..." _ Kassidy then saw in horror as animals fought brutally against each other. They attacked each other and everywhere she looked she saw blood shedding everywhere, bodies plummeting from the sky, and other bodies on the ground crashing against something. It was like watching the Trojan War. _"The birds… and the beasts…But we bats being both, but neither, refused to join the battle…" _Kassidy saw that bats were standing by while there was a war going on and she saw that they were just watching all that was happening. "_When war finally ended, the great treaty was formed…Because we refused to take sides…" S_he saw that all birds and beasts were gathered around in what she saw was where the great treaty took place and they all looked furious at the bats for the decision they made. "_The birds and the beasts banished us… for all eternity…"_ She then saw as bats flew inside a cave and then she heard voices say chillingly: "_To the darkness of the night…" _

Kassidy opened her eyes all the sudden and she was very shocked with what she saw and heard. It was like going through one of her nightmares. She felt as though she'd been away a long time.

_So that's why this law exists… _Kassidy thought.

"We were forbidden from ever glimpsing the sun again," Frieda said.

Kassidy looked at the boys and they were as shocked as she was. Holden looked like he just saw a horror movie while Shade looked somewhat mad at what he just saw.

"That's just messed up…" Holden said.

"No kidding," Shade said. "Is that how we got stuck with the law? That is so unfair, I hate the owls!"

"You must rule your anger and not let your anger rule you," Frieda said sternly while pointing at Shade. "Only foolish deeds will come of that."

Hearing Frieda say that could only make Kassidy look down, she somehow didn't know how she could rule her anger. It's not always easy for her to control her anger, considering she has to hide her magic from almost everyone. She wished she didn't have this problem but she had no choice but to live with it. She bit her bottom lip and didn't want to talk about anger, but she knew that Frieda was right.

"Why didn't the bats take any sides, Frieda?" Kassidy asked.

"Back then we were considered to be both bird and beast and because of that we were forced to choose between one of them, but we decided not to because we didn't want either side to think we were traitors. But instead, it only turned for the worse for us."

Kassidy crossed her arms. "That was a very cowardly decision."

Kassidy expected Frieda to call her out as Bathsheba would, but instead, she stared very calmly at her. Frieda nodded at Kassidy. "It was indeed a cowardly decision but we didn't realize it then until the war was over, and I can't even deny it. However, life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." The three friends looked at each other briefly and then back to Frieda. "After the war was over, there was a saying that Nocturna one day appeared and told the bats that we would be freed from our banishment and that we would be able to see the sun once again. It was Nocturna's Promise."

"Did that actually happen?" Holden asked.

"Some say it's true while others say it's a lie."

"So does that mean that there might be another war?" Shade asked.

Kassidy found this very interesting and wanted to know more like when she's reading a book or learning a spell. She actually found this more interesting than all the other wars she's ever heard or learned about.

"Maybe," Frieda said. "I don't know."

"When? When will it happen?"

The bat elder shook her head. "Maybe not in my lifetime, or yours." She paused. "But I think it will be sooner than that."

"How come?" Shade asked startled.

"Because of this," Frieda told Shade, unfolding her wing and revealing the silver band on her forearm.

Shade gasped as if seeing it for the first time while Holden and Kassidy looked at it confused. Kassidy didn't know what Frieda's band had to do with anything, but she knew what its purpose was for. Holden was scratching his head as though he was asked how to spell something.

"You see it, don't you?" Frieda asked.

All three of them nodded.

"How did you get it?" Shade asked.

"The humans gave it to me when I was young. Not much older than you, really. There were a couple of us in the forest one night, and they took hold of us and fastened the bands and let us go. I believe it's a sign, Shade. A sign of the promise to come. I don't know what part the humans play in it, but I believe they've come to help us in some way."

Frieda looked at Kassidy and Holden and she smiled weakly at them. Kassidy and Holden looked at each other using only their eyes and then back to Frieda. Kassidy knew some humans that were helping any way they could for any animal to survive. Some were even going to go extinct because of what her kind did them. Sometimes she wished she wasn't human because some of them were cruel to the animals and some of the animals didn't understand some things. She could understand though where Frieda was going with this.

"We humans help a lot of animals, even bats," Kassidy said. "Some of us are even going the lengths to find easier ways to help them. Sometimes we even tag them or band them so we can see how they live out here, kind of like your band, Frieda. But why did you show us this?"

_What was the point?_

There was nothing she could do to change the past or even change the future. She may be a witch, but magic wasn't always simple.

"You three are different; you're not like the others. I see something in all of you that I don't want to smother." She looked at Shade. "Shade, you're curious. You want to know about things." She then looked at Holden. "Holden, you're a risk-taker. You say what you want and you're never afraid to say your sentences." She then looked at Kassidy. "Kassidy, you're caring. You go as far as to risk yourself to protect the ones you know and love." She then looked at all three of them. "You three are by far the most interesting friends I have ever seen, and I'm glad you three found each other."

All three of them flushed at the compliments. Kassidy had many more questions to ask Frieda, but there was a fluttering of wings and when she looked to see who it was, it was Mercury.

"Pardon me, Frieda," Mercury was airborne and he looked very worried. "Brutus, supreme commander of the owls has arrived."

Kassidy's eyes widened and she, Holden, and Shade looked at each other with their jaws wide open. They all knew that the owls were here for them.

* * *

Kassidy, Holden, and Shade stood next to each other and Chinook, Todd, and Breeze were near them for no apparent reason. They stared at the owl-who was Brutus-that was on a higher branch and he looked very brutal enough to rip them with his sharp beak or even his sharp talons. He was a horned owl with brown and gray feathers along with three stripes on each side of his wings. He also had eyes that were very yellow. He looked very serious and Kassidy knew this wasn't a good sign.

The colony was whispering around them as they looked at the owl. No one knew for sure what was going to happen and neither did the three friends.

"Guys?" Holden whispered. "If we die tonight, just know that it was a pleasure getting to know you guys better."

"Let's not think about that right now," Kassidy whispered to Holden. "Let's just wait and see where our fate lies right now."

"Agreed," Shade said.

Frieda and Bathsheba whispered to each other and after a couple of minutes of whispering, Frieda looked at Brutus and got closer to him. "General Brutus," Frieda bowed her head a little and then looked back up at Brutus. "Please accept my deep apologies for keeping you waiting."

"Where are they?" Brutus asked with a voice so deep it was like a roll of thunder.

"They're over there," Frieda turned and pointed towards where the three friends were.

Chinook, Todd, and Breeze moved away leaving only Kassidy, Holden, and Shade for Brutus to look at. Kassidy could feel that the General was staring at her mostly-which really wasn't surprising to her but she stood strong and kept staring at the General without fidgeting. Kassidy noticed that Holden was trembling while Shade just stared at Brutus nervously.

She then heard wing flaps and she saw that Ariel got next to them. She gathered the three of them closely and she didn't hesitate while she did so.

"It appears what I've been told is true, Frieda," Brutus said. "A soldier of mine said that witchcraft was used so these three could escape and he told me that it was the one that looked like a devil." Brutus pointed at Kassidy and everyone looked at her. She hated the attention she was getting right now. "If what my soldier says is true about her using magic then she needs to be wiped out of existence immediately. Bring them to me, so we can settle this."

Kassidy could feel that Ariel held on to her tightly. She saw the worried look in her eyes and she couldn't blame Ariel. She was about to lose her son and two kids that she treated like they were her children. However, Kassidy didn't want anyone else to get hurt and as she looked around her she could see the fear in the colony's eyes. If they had to be sacrificed then she would be the first one to offer herself to die.

"No," Frieda said and this surprised Kassidy.

"Do as I say!" Brutus narrowed his eyes.

"I will not."

Kassidy looked at her friends and they were as surprised as she was that Frieda wouldn't give them up. Holden was still shaking nervously and this made Kassidy want to calm him down and tell him that everything would be okay. But would it?

"Frieda, such a decision jeopardizes the balance of nature," Brutus said.

"Brutus, you and I have flown in this forest for far too long," Frieda said softly. "You don't really believe that three young bats, glimpsing the sun will upset the balance of nature, do you? Look into your heart."

"I will not be manipulated. Emotions have no place in the execution of the law. Even when I now know that there's a bat that possesses the one thing that no one should have."

"My point exactly," Bathsheba said. "The owls are well within their-"

"General Brutus," Frieda said cutting off Bathsheba, "with all due respect, Kassidy has proven to the colony that her magic means no harm to anyone. She only wanted to use it on your soldier because she was protecting her friends. She would never use her magic for any bad purposes."

Kassidy saw that Bathsheba glowered at Frieda for standing up for her. Bathsheba hated Kassidy since she first laid her eyes on her. Since Bathsheba hated Kassidy, Kassidy hated Bathsheba.

"And as head of this colony," Frieda continued firmly, "I stand firm on this. No Silverwings will be sacrificed, for the sake of your unjust law. Whether with powers or not, no one will be sacrificed."

General Brutus looked unsatisfied with Frieda's answer and his feathers pricked up furiously. "Unjust law?" He said harshly and he landed near Frieda and this caused the three elders to back away, but Frieda stood her ground and kept staring at Brutus. Kassidy hoped Brutus wouldn't rip Frieda's head off. Brutus looked closely at Frieda. "Give them to us."

"No!" Frieda lifted her fist up determined. "I have spoken." She then lowered her fist.

Brutus looked at Kassidy and scowled at her as though she hurt him. Kassidy didn't look away and kept staring at Brutus's icy glare. He then looked back at Frieda. "I hope you feel satisfied for not handing them over to us, Frieda, especially not handing over that devil of a witch to us. I have a feeling though she will bring destruction to every bird and beast and when that day comes you will then know that I was right." Brutus spread opened his wings and took off. "Prepare to suffer the consequences!" He then flew away.

Kassidy didn't know what to say about what Brutus just said and all she could do was stare at him in shock as he flew away. Was she that dangerous-looking? She looked at her hands and then clenched them after looking at them for a couple of seconds and clenched her teeth.

_Don't listen to him… control yourself._

What if Brutus was right though? Would if she did bring destruction to every animal she came across? She didn't harm anyone and she didn't want to unless she had to protect herself or anyone else she knew. What was going to happen though?

"What does he mean by that?" Holden asked nervously.

The colony was whispering and they were really nervous about what Brutus meant by the consequences. Kassidy looked around her and now she grew worried about not only her kidnapped family, her friends but also all the Silverwings. She now wished she offered herself to the General.

All the sudden she heard Bathsheba gasping towards the sky and she pointed. "Look!"

Kassidy, Holden, Shade, and Ariel looked up and they were shocked and Kassidy gasped. Flying in an arrow formation, owls were carrying sticks with fire on them. They were heading for the tree. A lot of the Silverwings were frightened and they took off from Tree Haven, as did Kassidy, Holden, Shade, and Ariel. The colony screamed as the owls dove for the tree and as they did they threw the sticks burning with fire on them into the open knotholes of Tree Haven. The tree burned and the fire grew and as it did it was turning into a smoky wreckage.

Kassidy landed on the ground and she realized that neither Holden, Shade nor Ariel were insight. She looked at the tree and a lot of the Silverwings were doing everything they could to burn out the fire. She knew that using branches wouldn't burn all the fire entirely. She knew she had to do something and fast.

Kassidy clenched her teeth and took off from the ground. She then was airborne in the sky and she then looked at the lake. If she was going to burn out the fire she would do it with water. Concentrating she focused on making the water float and as she did, she used her hand to start and lift some water. With enough concentration, water began to come up, but as it came up some sort of force was dragging it down like it didn't want to come up. Confused, Kassidy concentrated harder and didn't take her eyes off the lake, but the water kept fighting her with her magic. Like someone didn't want her to put out the fire.

"What's going-"

Before Kassidy could finish her sentence, an owl knocked her out of the sky and Kassidy screamed as she fell. She tried to fly but the owl knocked into her so hard that she was spinning while falling from the sky. Kassidy kept falling until she hit the side of a ledge and then she hit the ground.

* * *

Holden was helping Shade and Ariel put out the fire on Tree Haven. He was scared to death of what the owls did, but he kept putting out flames with a tree branch. They lost Kassidy when they took off from Tree Haven, but Holden hoped she was somewhere safe.

All the sudden Shade fell next to him and then he then heard a grunt. Holden looked and he saw that a branch was on Ariel and it was bigger than her. Holden's eyes widened as she heard Ariel in pain.

"No!" Shade flew to his Mom and desperately tried to get the branch off of her, but it was too heavy for him. "Mom!"

"Hang on!" Holden said as he got to Shade's side. "You won't lift this on your own!"

Holden and Shade worked together to lift the branch off Ariel but it was too heavy for them. They kept trying however and didn't give up.

"Shade! Holden!" Holden and Shade looked up to see that it was Chinook.

"Chinook!" Shade said as Chinook landed.

"You guys need some muscle. Let me in there."

Together all three of them lifted the branch and as they did the branch started to move. The branch then lifted and when it did, Ariel crawled her way to safety. They then dropped the branch as soon as Ariel got to safety. Holden and Shade looked at Chinook and Holden was surprised that Chinook helped them.

Shade sighed in relief. "Thanks, Chinook, we owe you one."

"Look around," Chinook said as he indicated to the sky. "It's not just me you guys owe." Chinook then took off and made his way to safety as did most of the other colony members.

Holden and Shade looked at each other as if knowing that Chinook was right. They then looked at Ariel and she was rubbing her arm. They got to her and together, all three of them took off and made their way to safety.

"Silverwings," Holden heard Frieda's desperate shout, "retreat! We must all retreat, now!"

The colony made their way to the safety of the trees and as they did they roosted on them. Holden, Shade, and Ariel landed on a tree branch and looked around them. Holden looked around desperately to see if he could see Kassidy anywhere, but no matter where he looked he couldn't see Kassidy. She wasn't in any of the trees.

"Where's Kassidy?" Ariel asked desperately. "I can't find her in any of the trees!"

A sickening feeling swirled around in Holden's stomach and he looked back towards the tree that was burning. His eyes widened.

"You don't think…?" Shade said.

"Oh, no…" Holden said.

* * *

Kassidy groaned in pain and she was about to get up but she suddenly felt something burn her shoulder and she yelled in pain. She rubbed her shoulder and it stung her badly as she hissed, but she tried not to let it bother her. Smoke crawled in Kassidy's mouth and nose that she had to cough. She covered her nose and mouth and looked around her. She was shocked when she saw that fire was burning all around her.

She was inside the tree.

Hearing some cracking, she looked up to see that burnt wood was falling towards her. Kassidy gasped and rolled out of the way before the wood could crush her and then she dove to the ground when she saw more wood falling and then she covered her head. She looked up to see that she missed the wood by nearly an inch. Her eyes started to sting like her shoulder burn and she coughed more rapidly. She knew she couldn't stay in here otherwise she'd be burned alive.

Without hesitating, Kassidy took off and made her way to an entrance she could fly out through and as she did she continued to cough but she tried to hold her breath. The smoke only got worse as she couldn't see through it. She used her echo vision to help her and as she continued to fly her vision started to get blurry. She then hit the ground and coughed more. She didn't want this to be the end. She wanted to do a lot of things and she wanted to find her family, she didn't want to leave from existence just yet. She didn't want to die just yet like her parents did.

All the sudden she felt a gust of wind through her fur and it felt cold. She looked up and through her blurry vision, she saw an entrance. She was relieved and it was like someone was actually trying to help her. Kassidy crawled towards it and as she did she felt her strength come back and she crawled faster and with enough effort she managed to get to the hole and as soon as her head got outside of the tree, she immediately jumped into the lake. She then landed in the lake with a huge splash and the water surrounded her completely. Kassidy then swam up to the surface and gasped to catch her breath as soon as her head was out of the water. She looked around her and she then saw the colony was safe in trees. She kicked her legs and began to swim for land.

She swam as fast as she could to land and she didn't stop for a moment for a breather, even though her lungs were on fire. As she got close to land she could hear voices calling out her name. She then knew it was Holden, Shade, and Ariel's voices. She could also hear the colony gasping and she knew it was for her. She then got to land and crawled her way out of the water and as soon as her whole body got on land, she collapsed to the ground and coughed rapidly.

She heard wing flaps and she looked up to see that it was Holden, Shade, and Ariel flying towards her worried. They landed near her and they helped her up as she was soaking wet. Even though she was wet, Ariel hugged her while Holden and Shade stood by but worried for Kassidy. She felt the burn on her shoulder as Ariel hugged her, but she held in the pain.

"Kassidy, oh, Kass," Ariel said. Kassidy looked up at Ariel and she had tears in her eyes. "You're alright. You scared us."

Ariel gasped and Kassidy, Shade, and Holden looked at her confused. Ariel was looking towards Kassidy's shoulder shocked and Kassidy immediately knew it and tried to cover it with her hand. "It's okay, it's nothing really," Kassidy said trying to convince Ariel.

Ariel removed Kassidy's hand from her shoulder and she looked at Kassidy's burn. "Kass, you're burnt… we need to get your shoulder treated."

Shade immediately hugged Kassidy. "I can't believe you were in there… I'm so glad to see you…"

"Me too, Shade," Kassidy said and she was glad that she had company.

"Justice has been served!" All four looked to see that Brutus was flying by them and he was leaving with the rest of the owls that burned down Tree Haven. Shade looked at them mad and Kassidy couldn't really blame him as she too did the same thing.

They all then looked towards Tree Haven and it was breaking and burning fast. Kassidy watched with Holden, Shade, and Ariel as Tree Haven burned down and would no longer be there anymore. She then saw floating in the sky projections as the fire and smoke rose from the tree and then she heard the voices of what used to be the stories of the echo chamber. As the projections and voices rose in the sky they began to disappear. Then there was no more of the projections or the voices and if any bat had been within a thousand wing beats, he would have heard a million faint voices, streaming up from the echo chamber, their stories released at last, and lost forever in the sky.

Kassidy kept watching in shock and couldn't believe this was happening. "What have we done?"

* * *

The two figures smiled as they watched the colony's tree burn in the shadows and while they did they had themselves a little picnic as they watched the show like they were at the movies. They were now in the forms of owls and this made their day. The male figure messed around with Kassidy's magic and it was too much fun for him. They enjoyed everyone screaming and fleeing for their lives as everything turned into a disaster. What they really enjoyed was the part where one of the owls knocked into Kassidy and she fell into the tree while it was burning, even though she didn't get killed.

It was too good to be true for them and it was most delightful for them. They couldn't wait to see what more of this crazy world had to offer to Kassidy and her friends. They also couldn't wait to have more fun.

* * *

**A/N- Hey, guys, sorry I took so long. If you don't know I will be busy a lot with basketball and some other work. This took me a while but I'm finally finished. **

**When Frieda talked to Kassidy, Holden, and Shade I used the quote "Life can be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." It's by Soren Kierkegaard and I chose it because I found it very inspiring. Things are getting pretty crazy for these three friends and they will soon face more danger to come. Much more danger, later.**


	9. The Fault in Our Stars

**Chapter 9**

**The Fault in Our Stars**

* * *

Kassidy flew with Holden, Shade, and Ariel to another tree and then landed to be near the other Silverwings and as soon as they did they looked back at the tree that was once the Silverwings' beloved home. The tree fell apart as the fire ate at its old bark, branches, and trunk and would soon be nothing more than ashes and a stump. The Silverwings' childhood home-one that was their home for centuries-was no more.

Kassidy looked around her and most of the Silverwings were grieving for their home and it was too heartbreaking to watch. She looked back at the tree and she felt guilty because she couldn't save Tree Haven. If only the water would've worked with her but for some reason, it didn't. She never had that sort of problem with her water spell for a long time and now the water spell didn't work for her, but why? She didn't have a problem with it when she saved Holden, so why didn't it work this time? Did she lose her touch or was someone messing with her? Either way, she blamed this on herself because she was the only one that had the power to stop the flames from destroying Tree Haven and now it was too late.

"W-What was that strange smoke coming out of the fire?" Kassidy heard Breeze ask.

"The echoes of our history have been lost…" Frieda said as she kept staring at Tree Haven and all the Silverwings looked at her. "But history is kept in memory as well. As long as Silverwings fly our heritage will never be lost."

Kassidy looked at Holden, Shade, and Ariel and Shade and Ariel looked sad for the loss of their home. Holden looked as though he wanted to say something and then he closed his mouth and looked down as if what he was about to say was stupid. Over the last few days, Kassidy never would've imagined that things could've gotten worse and they have. It was as if her whole world was breaking apart by all the terrible things that were happening and did happen. She lost her parents, her Aunt, Uncle, cousins, and dog got kidnapped, and now Tree Haven-which felt like a home to her since her family's kidnapping-was now gone forever.

She looked down sadly and rubbed her arms from the water she was in. Even though her shoulder was stinging she didn't care, it didn't even matter if her shoulder was stinging or not. What mattered, the most was the situation they were all in right now.

"What now?" Shade asked.

"I'm not sure," Ariel said.

"Does your wing hurt? Can you fly?"

Kassidy looked at Ariel confused. "Wait, what happened? What happened to your wing?"

Ariel looked at Kassidy. "Don't worry about me, Kass. I'll be fine."

Holden got near Kassidy and looked at her burn. "That fire got you good… at least it didn't burn your face off…"

Kassidy looked at Holden. "Burn or not it still doesn't change the fact that Tree Haven is now gone… I deserve this burn anyway."

Holden was about to respond but got interrupted by Bathsheba. "We'd still have our home if we'd handed over those troublemakers to the owls!"

Kassidy looked towards the tree Bathsheba was on and she was staring at Frieda furiously. Frieda, however, was staring at her calmly. "Finding a new home is easier than to replace a child," Frieda said.

Bathsheba stared at Kassidy, Holden, and Shade coldly but she gazed at Kassidy very furious.

Frieda then flew to another tree branch and landed. "Since our home has been destroyed, we must begin our migration to Hibernaculum early."

The colony started to whisper and they couldn't believe they had to migrate early. Kassidy noticed that Holden was rubbing his head nervously at what Frieda said. She knew she and Holden would be migrating for the first time and she didn't know how it would turn out but she was concerned with how Holden would handle it. He was still trying to adjust to all this and she knew there was going to be a lot of difficult obstacles they needed to overcome. She also didn't know how Shade would handle it either, he was going to migrate for the first time as well and he was not at an average height as everyone else. Would they make it?

"Unbelievable," Bathsheba shouted. "Sacrificing our roost for a scrawny bat too small to make the migration, a human bat that can barely act like a bat compared to the rest of us, and a human witch bat that looks like a devil! General Brutus did make a point; she might bring destruction to everyone, her powers might be more dangerous than we all realize!"

Kassidy clenched her jaws and was sick and tired of being called a devil and she looked at Bathsheba. "Dangerous? I tried to save Tree Haven and then an owl comes out of nowhere and knocks into me!"

Kassidy wanted to say more but she felt the fire about to rise on her and she immediately tried to calm down. While she did she saw that many Mothers were bringing their children closer to them and many of the Silverwings were looking at her, Holden, and Shade afraid or mad at them like they were the monsters. Holden and Shade put their hands on Kassidy's shoulders to comfort her and even though her shoulder was still burning she didn't flinch. She also felt Ariel put her hand on her back to comfort her as well. Kassidy calmed down and didn't feel the flames rise up on her. She still felt a little angry, but she knew that it wouldn't solve the situation they were all in.

"Dawn is coming soon," Kassidy heard Mercury say and she looked up to see he was talking to Frieda. "We have to start moving."

Frieda turned to look at the colony. "Silverwings, we must ready our children for the long journey ahead!"

Shade turned to look at Ariel. "We can make it."

Kassidy and Holden looked at Ariel. "Of course you three can." She put her hand on Shade's shoulder. "Shade, I have to sing our migration sound map to you now. You need to know the way to our winter roost."

Shade looked nervous about what Ariel said. "The whole thing?"

"There's no time to sing it to you in stages like we usually do…"

Shade looked at Kassidy and Holden and then he looked back at Ariel and sighed. "Okay."

"Close your eyes, listen well."

Shade did as Ariel told him to do and then Ariel closed her eyes and started to sing the sound map to Shade. Kassidy and Holden watched as Ariel sang the sound map to Shade and as they did, Shade started to scrunch his eyes and clench his teeth like he was having a migraine.

"That doesn't look like a whole lot of fun if you ask me," Holden said.

"Will you not worry about if something is fun or not and be serious?" Kassidy asked a little mad.

"Geez, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Kassidy looked at Holden. "Just shut up."

Shade all the sudden cried out in pain and Kassidy and Holden looked to see that Shade took a few steps back and he was clutching his head with his claws. He almost fell but luckily Kassidy was fast enough to grab Shade's hand and pulled him. Shade shook his head and then looked at Kassidy. "Thanks, Kass."

"Don't mention it," Kassidy said.

"Did you get all of it, Shade?" Ariel asked.

Shade looked at Ariel. "I-I… I think so…"

Ariel looked at Kassidy and Holden. "Do you two need the sound map?"

Kassidy was about to respond but Holden beat her to it. "I don't think so."

Kassidy looked at Holden like he was crazy. "Holden, are you hearing yourself right now? We might need it."

Holden looked at Kassidy. "Does it matter if we need it or not? We're only going to be migrating with them one time, it's not like we really need it. Besides we can just ask where we're going."

Kassidy crossed her arms and scowled at Holden. She didn't know if they would only migrate with them one time, she didn't even know if they would find the help they needed to transform back into humans. She didn't even know if they would survive out here.

She then sighed annoyed. "Fine, but if we get lost and we have no one that has the sound map I'm blaming you for it."

Holden sighed annoyed. "Fine."

A lot of the Silverwings were finishing up giving the newborns the sound map and as soon as they were finished they started to take off from their roost and follow Frieda and the other elders to their first destination.

"Hurry up you four," Mercury said to Kassidy, Holden, Shade, and Ariel.

Ariel looked at Kassidy worried. "Will you be alright?"

Kassidy looked at Ariel. "I'll be fine I've had worse pains then this."

"Then are you three ready?"

"We're ready," Shade said determinedly.

"Then let's blow this popsicle stand," Holden said. Shade and Ariel looked at Holden confused at what he just said. Holden looked at Kassidy as if to ask "What did I say?" and she just had her arms crossed and stared at him annoyed. Holden looked back at Shade and Ariel and rubbed his neck. "Um… never mind."

All four of them then spread opened their wings and took off from the tree branch they were on and followed the rest of the colony. Kassidy took one last look towards where Tree Haven used to stand and all that remained was a stump and smoke coming out of it as if it was a cauldron. She then looked back ahead of her and hoped to find help to transform her and Holden back into humans and hoped to find her family.

* * *

The heat in this jungle was very hot, but it didn't come from the blazing tropical sun; it came from some hidden underground furnace. It usually rained and was usually misty, but it didn't come from the sky. Rather it came from tiny sprinklers in the flat ceiling. The plants here were fake and their fronds were stiff and odorless. It wasn't the real jungle, it was artificial and inside this artificial jungle were two bats that were gigantic. They were known as Vampyrum Spectrums.

For Goth, he knew this wasn't the real jungle and he wasn't stupid. In fact, it was nothing like his home. The humans captured him and brought him in here and now he was a prisoner. When they first put him inside, he smashed into the invisible walls, foolishly trusting his eyes when he should have relied on his echo vision. These walls were strong as stone; but by some magic Goth didn't understand, his eyes could see right through them, to the place where the humans came and went, peering in at him.

What made matters worse was that these humans fed him mice, tiny, cowering things. He was tired of the taste: meek and watery, as if they'd all come from the same brood. He craved variety.

Above all, he craved bat, live, pungent bat flesh.

He longed to hunt again.

There was barely anywhere to go in this prison and whenever he flew around in it he could circle it in a few hundred beats of his powerful wings. This prison was torture for him and he loathed the humans that brought him in here. Whenever the humans took him out of the fake jungle they would usually flash searing lights in his face or stick a dart into his side that made him plunge into a deep sleep. When he got out of here he longed hope that Cama Zotz would punish them. Didn't these humans realize who he was? He was a Prince of the royal family. Goth had long crimson red hair along with a beard, a beige mane, grey-brown fur, long purple wings that curled at the ends, and green eyes.

Goth was on a sinewy branch staring at the invisible wall and he watched despised as the humans were using their machines and other technology and usually watched him and Throbb. Throbb was Goth's brother-in-law and even thinking of him as a brother-in-law could only disgust him. He was an overweight bat with dark purple hair along with a goatee, a dark green mane, dark blue wings, teal fur, and green eyes. Of all bats and he had to be stuck with him, he would've gladly of eaten him in a heartbeat but if he did he knew his sister would've killed him. Although he also knew that his Father wouldn't have minded him killing off Throbb because he hated him as much as Goth did. Whether Goth hated Throbb or not he would keep him alive and he at least gave him space and didn't bother him too much.

Goth then took a glimpse at the band that was on his forearm and this made him growl, remembering that exact same day when the humans put those bands on him and Throbb. It was a bronze color and no matter how hard he tried to get it off him it wouldn't come off. He wanted it off him. It was the mark of a prisoner and it was an outrage.

He was trying to find a way to escape somehow and the only way so far he knew would be a way out was a secret door the humans would usually use and even that was impossible to escape through. He tried to open it when the humans weren't watching but it would never budge for him no matter what he did. Whenever the humans came in through that secret door they were always careful and Goth could never got through it.

Throbb was of no help at all and Goth couldn't stand the fact that he was always lazy. He wasn't a bright bat and all he seemed to think about was food or sleep. Throbb was on another sinewy branch far from Goth and he was snoring in his sleep. This was what he had to deal with for one month.

Goth sighed in frustration and got to the point that he was immediately bored out of his mind and wanted to take his eyes off those scoundrels. However, he wouldn't give up and would find a way out. He opened his large wings and released his grip from the branch he was on and flew to the ground and started to pace around. As he paced around he thought and tried to think of a plan but no matter what plan he thought of it didn't seem like it would work so he would scratch it.

As he paced he then noticed a strange looking leaf falling in the air and that stopped him in his tracks as he watched it slowly fall to the ground. Goth approached the leaf that fell and it was different compared to the other leaves he was used to and as he approached it his huge shadow fell on it. This leaf was an orange color and it was very small. He bent down and used only his claw and he picked it up and inspected it. He saw it came through something in the wall and he looked to see something he had never noticed before. In the white wall, there was a metal grate and it was too good to be true.

Goth turned around to look at Throbb. "Throbb." Throbb didn't respond and kept snoring in his sleep and this made Goth furrow his brow. "Throbb!"

Throbb woke up surprised and he yelped and this caused him to fall from the branch he was on and crash to the ground on his stomach. He groaned and this made Goth roll his eyes as Throbb slowly got up. He then flew over to Goth and then landed next to him confused. "What is it, Goth?" Throbb asked.

Goth looked back up at the metal grate. "I think I might've found us a way out of here." Goth slowly smiled and as he did he crumpled the leaf in his possession.

* * *

_Everywhere she looked all she could see was darkness. No speck of light could be seen and not even a soul could be heard. It was just her and her alone in the darkness._

_Kassidy then noticed something about her has changed. She looked at herself and saw that she had her black clothes on and she also noticed that she didn't have her wings, her fur, or anything else that made her look like a bat. She was back in her human form. _

_She then looked around her again and then she noticed something up ahead of her. She squinted her eyes and she thought she could see two figures up ahead. Wanting to know who or what they were she began to advance forward. As she kept walking she started to notice something familiar about those two, they were staring at her and she could tell. As she got closer to them she then started to feel her heart beat fast as she then could tell that one of them was a male while the other was a female. The male had short black hair, an extended goatee, and blue eyes. The female had brown hair that was a bob cut, had blue eyes and wore glasses. _

_The people that Kassidy was looking at were her parents, Theresa and Mike._

_Kassidy immediately started to run towards her parents and she felt happy on the inside to see them. She wanted to hug them and tell them that she missed them. The faster she ran the closer she got._

"_Mom! Dad!" As she got near them she noticed that they were staring at her in a disappointing way. Kassidy's happiness suddenly dropped to confusion and she slowed her pace as soon as she got near them. They didn't look happy to see her. "Mom? Dad?"_

"_Kass, how could you?" Her Mom said. "How could you let that happen? How could you let the poor Silverwings' summer roost burn down?"_

_Kassidy's eyes widened in shock at what her Mom just said. She never would've expected her Mom to say such a thing like that. In fact, she would never say anything like that. _"_Mom, I tried to save it I really did but-"_

"_After all we've taught you and you couldn't use your powers in time to save their roost?" Her Dad said._

_Kassidy couldn't believe that her parents were saying these things. "Dad, I-"_

"_When the owls dropped the sticks with fire on them onto Tree Haven you could've used your levitation spell to stop the branches from falling, but instead you flew off the tree."_

"_You also could've used your water spell from your own hands and not the lake," her Mom said, "and look what happened when you used the lake."_

"_This is your fault, Kass."_

_All the sudden, Kassidy saw fire with her right eye and when she turned towards the fire she saw that it was Tree Haven burning and all the Silverwings were trying to put it out and some were fleeing for their lives and screaming. Her breath was stuck in her throat as she watched in horror what was happening. _

"_We thought you were a good girl, Kass," Kassidy heard her Aunt's voice and when she turned to look at her she also saw her Uncle, her cousins, and her dog and they were looking at her disappointed as well. "But you've actually proven to us that you're not good… you're a demon."_

"_No… Aunt Jen please don't think that!" Kassidy said. "None of you think that I didn't want this to happen!"_

"_And now it's too late," her Uncle said. "You did this. You're the reason why all this happened."_

"_You were my hero, Kass!" Addison said as she started to cry. "I wanted to be a lot like you but now I don't want to anymore now that I now know that you're truly a monster!"_

"_I hate you, Kass!" Reese said as she started to cry as well. "You let those poor bats' home burn down, you're going to be nothing more than a monster!" _

_Kassidy was breathing hard and her parents, her Aunt, and her Uncle kept repeating that this was her fault and as they did, Addison and Reese continued to cry and Raven was growling at her. Tree Haven continued to burn with the fire and smoke rising and all the bats continued to scream or try to save it. Kassidy put her hands on her ears as her parents, her Aunt, and her Uncle continued to say that this was her fault and she clenched her teeth as their voices got louder and the Silverwings' screaming got louder._

"_Nooooooooooooooo!"_

* * *

"Kass, wake up!"

Kassidy felt someone shake her and she immediately awoke with her eyes widened. She was sweating and breathing hard.

It was another daymare.

She looked at herself and she was still in her bat form. She then remembered that she was roosting in a deserted barn with the colony and she was roosting with Holden, Shade, and Ariel on a rotting beam. She also remembered that she was given medicine for her burnt shoulder. Everyone was exhausted after the journey but they still had a long way to go to get to Hibernaculum.

Kassidy looked to see that it was Ariel that woke her and she was looking at her worried. "Kass, are you alright? You were talking in your sleep again."

Holden and Shade were still asleep and so was the rest of the colony. Kassidy rubbed her eyes and she also wiped the sweat that was on her face. "I'm fine… just another daymare."

The dream was horrific to Kassidy. She could never imagine her family saying those awful things to her in actual real life. She hoped it would never happen.

Ariel put her hand on Kassidy's shoulder. "You know after I lost Cassiel I used to have daymares a lot like you. They were always horrible and whenever I woke up to one I would always shake and like you, I would always sweat." Kassidy listened to Ariel carefully. "But after I had Shade, my daymares rarely came back. I never forgot the daymares I had but it didn't stop me from raising Shade."

Kassidy appreciated that Ariel was trying to cheer her up a bit and it was working for her. She then wanted to know something. "Do you ever think about Cassiel?"

Ariel sighed. "Sometimes, but not always, he always had unusual ideas and sometimes they were foolish ones, he was curious like Shade."

"Either way, Cassiel must've meant something to you like Shade."

"Having a spouse is sometimes never easy for a lot of us. I'm sure you'll get to experience something like that."

Kassidy knew Ariel had a point. A lot of marriages don't go well for most people but sometimes they would go to marriage counseling to try and figure things out. Other times it usually lead to divorces if they never figured things out. If Kassidy lived she could get to experience that one day. She, however, wanted to focus on the present and not the future.

"Kass, you know you can tell us anything right?"

Kassidy looked down sadly. "Yeah…"

"Whatever it is you can tell us… but if you don't feel comfortable about telling me anything right now it's okay. I just want to make sure that you're alright."

Kassidy rubbed her arm and looked back at Ariel. "I just… I feel like this is my fault. I'm the only bat here with magic and I could've saved Tree Haven but I couldn't… My magic wasn't working for me and if I would've done it in time Tree Haven would've been saved."

Ariel looked at her sadly. "Don't blame this on yourself. We all tried to save it. Things will work out in the end for all of us and we'll soon find another summer roost that we can call home. Plus I'm sure you and Holden will find the help you're looking for. I'm also sure that you'll find your family, you're a good kid and I think your family is very glad to have someone like you."

Kassidy knew Shade had a good mom and she hoped that Shade would continue to love his mom like she loved her family and how she used to love her parents. Kassidy smiled weakly. "Thanks, Ariel."

Ariel smiled weakly. "Try to get some sleep. We've got a long way to cover tomorrow."

Kassidy nodded and Ariel went back to sleep. Kassidy looked down at the ground sadly and thought of the good times she had with her family and as she did she slowly fell asleep. As she went to sleep she hoped that her family was not hurt and if they were she would go after whoever did this to them and would make sure they got what they deserved.

* * *

**A/N- Hey, guys, another chapter down. I actually named this chapter after a very good book and I thought this would be a good chapter title. In the series, we don't see what Goth and Throbb were up to a lot in these few episodes and I thought, "What were they doing while that other stuff was happening?" So I then decided I would write what they will be doing while our main characters are on their journey. Well until then I'll see you guys later.**


	10. Lost

**Chapter 10**

**Lost**

* * *

The colony continued on with the migration and the weather outside was not looking very good. It was raining and thundering and as they flew, Kassidy could feel the hard and cold raindrops drop on her as she flew next to Ariel. The wind was also blowing hard on their course but it didn't stop Kassidy from beating her wings. The rain kept getting in her eyes as she squinted them and it was as if it was trying to blind her and she would sometimes have to blink them. She couldn't use her magic in this situation because she had to concentrate on flying and even though she managed to use it that one time with the owl she couldn't use it right now.

"Heavy gusts," Kassidy heard Frieda say over the sound of the rain. "Keep in tight formation!"

Kassidy looked behind her and she saw that Holden and Shade were lagging behind and Shade was the furthest back as they were flying. The boys were breathing hard as they flew. Holden was a strong guy, but he was not used to flying and Shade was small and he had to beat his wings harder than the rest of the bats. Kassidy had a bad feeling about something and this got her concerned for the boys.

Chinook got near Shade and Holden and they didn't realize it. Chinook wasn't having a hard time flying in the rain like most of the Silverwings but Kassidy could tell that he wasn't enjoying the weather like everyone else. He looked at Shade and Holden as he kept pumping his wings.

"Come on guys, I know you can do it," Chinook said with an enthusiastic smile that made Holden look at him confused as did Kassidy.

Chinook flew ahead and Kassidy did not expect him to support the boys. After his bullying with Shade and arguments with Holden, he actually supported them. Kassidy, however, didn't want to worry about that and worried more for Holden and Shade.

"Since when the flying hell does he care?" Holden asked and the wind almost blew him off course and he yelped.

_Holden, stay focused, _Kassidy thought.

"You two are lagging far behind," Kassidy saw Bathsheba looking at Holden and Shade and they looked at her. "Hang on to someone!" She then flew away and shook her head disapproved and Kassidy furrowed her brow at her.

The storm only got worse and Holden and Shade were doing the best they could to keep up but Kassidy knew they had to cling onto someone soon or they would definitely fall from the sky. The rain poured harder and the wind grew stronger but Kassidy kept pushing herself but wouldn't take her eyes off the boys. They were lagging farther behind and Kassidy could hear them struggling.

"Boys, cling to us," Ariel shouted to the boys and she flew towards them as did Kassidy. "Shade, grab onto Kassidy and Holden you grab onto me!"

"Hell no, I ain't clinging to anybody!" Holden shouted. "Besides you're hurt!"

"He's right," Shade shouted. "You and Kassidy are both hurt! I'm fine! We can keep up!"

Thunderstruck in the sky and Kassidy wasn't having it with these two. She appreciated them being troopers but she wasn't about to lose friends tonight. She may have lost her parents but she wouldn't lose her friends. "For god's sake you two; don't be stupid and listen to Ariel! We're less worried about our injuries and more worried about you guys! Grab onto us!"

"No way, I'm flying and that's final," Holden shouted.

All the sudden a thunderstruck and it made a huge blast in the sky causing most of the Silverwings to blow off course, but they managed to stay in the sky and Kassidy, Holden, and Shade gasped. The blast got bigger and Kassidy and Ariel managed to stay in the sky but the blast knocked Holden and Shade off course and they fell from the sky screaming.

"Shade," Ariel shouted, "Holden!"

Kassidy's eyes widened and she saw that Mercury flew off course and went to go help Holden and Shade. Kassidy looked at Ariel and Ariel looked at Kassidy worried. Kassidy looked at her as if to say she was sorry and then she flew off course and furled her wings against her body and dove downwards to try and save Shade and Holden.

"Kassidy!" Ariel shouted more worried.

Kassidy dove by the other Silverwings and continued to go down for Holden and Shade. She saw that Mercury was trying to help one of them and he called out their names. Mercury was too late and he couldn't grab one of them. Kassidy dove past him and she heard him calling her name but she didn't listen and instead focused on trying to save the boys and the boys were trying to fly.

"Mom," Shade shouted. "Mercury! Kassidy! Help!"

Holden and Shade continued to fall faster and Kassidy kept going down for them as fast as she could. Kassidy clenched her teeth as she kept going down and as she did the rain kept getting on her and mostly in her eyes. Then like they were just ghosts, Holden and Shade disappeared and Kassidy unfurled her wings and she looked down shocked. She called for them, but there was no response. Kassidy flapped her wings and she desperately went to search for them and called out their names. She kept telling herself that they weren't dead and that she needed to find them and fast. She wouldn't leave them behind. She wouldn't continue any further until she found them dead or alive.

* * *

Tonight he would be free.

Goth and Throbb were waiting for the humans to leave so they could make their escape. Goth could already feel his freedom. He could also taste victory.

After waiting for a while, the humans eventually left and this was now the perfect moment for Goth and Throbb to make their escape. Goth flew to the wall of where the grate was and landed near it. He could feel the cool air coming through it. He then extended a claw of his and then he dug his claw deep into the concrete that was near the grate and started to slide it miraculously around it as if he was slicing his prey's throat. After he fully slid his claw around the grate it was loose. He then used his claw to pull out the grate and when he pulled it out the grate crashed to the ground along with some other pieces of concrete.

Goth looked through and he saw that it was a metal shaft. It was too narrow for them to spread their wings and the walls were too smooth for their claws. But all Goth wanted was his freedom.

"After all our days living in this prison," Goth said, "we're finally getting out of here, mi amigo."

Without wasting any time, the two giant bats made their way inside and began to make their way out.

* * *

Her wings and muscles were aching from flying for a while but she wouldn't give up on her friends. She was flying over an ocean and was still calling out for Holden and Shade. Her voice was getting raspy from shouting out their names but the storm died down and she at least had a better chance of finding the boys. It was still dark and the stars were shining but it wouldn't be long until the sun came up.

Kassidy looked at the ocean and she hoped that neither Holden nor Shade drowned. Ariel already lost a mate and she couldn't even imagine her losing a son. She, however, wouldn't let Ariel lose another family member. Holden said that his family probably didn't miss him but Kassidy knew that he was wrong. He probably missed the things the way they were and probably wished he was home right now doing what he usually wanted to do.

As she flew she then noticed a small bay with a few wooden buildings on the rocky slopes. It was an island and with high hopes, she thought that maybe the boys were on the island. She flew towards the island as fast as she could even though she was sore. As soon as she got near the island she began to call out for Holden and Shade and use her sound sight to try and find them. She searched from the high tops of the trees to the lower ground but all she saw was a squirrel, storing nuts in the crotch of a tree, some silent nests and some sleeping birds, their feet locked around their perches, but no sign of Holden and Shade.

She tried to hear for them but all she heard was the whistle of the wind in the dead leaves and the grunting chorus of toads. No Holden nor Shade could be heard from a distance.

Kassidy decided to land and rest herself before she made things any worse. She landed near some water and stretched herself. As soon as she was done she was trying to think of where they could be right now. She didn't want to think they were at the bottom of the ocean but rather she thought that maybe they landed somewhere, maybe even on this island. But where exactly would they be right now?

Kassidy looked towards the water and this made her think of something. If she could use her water spell that one time with that owl then why couldn't she use it on Tree Haven? She wanted to test her water spell. Kassidy breathed and lifting her hand she concentrated on lifting some of the water and she made sure to get all the details. Then with all the concentration she put into the spell the water lifted. She then imagined the water turning into a circle and when she used her hand to make a circle in the air, the water turned into a circle. She then imagined making a square with the water and when she used her hand to make a square in the air, the water turned into a square. Finally, she imagined the water turning into a triangle and when she used her hand to make the triangle in the air the water turned into a triangle.

"I did have all the details right," Kassidy said and this made her confused as she kept making the water float. "But why wasn't my spell working near Tree Haven?" Kassidy then dropped her hand and the water in the air dropped back into the rest of the water.

"Whoa," Kassidy furrowed her brow confused and she turned around to see where she heard that voice.

She looked up and all she saw were bright autumn leaves on tree branches. But she then noticed one leaf, in particular, that was different. It was bigger than the other leaves and it actually was furry in places. As she looked closer she then realized that it wasn't a leaf. Wings unfolded and Kassidy saw that it was a bat. This bat was a female and she was looking at her in awe. She realized that she saw her use her magic. She had pale blonde hair, beige-colored fur, a dark brown mane, orange wings, and light green eyes. She knew immediately that this bat was an Eastern red bat.

"You made that water float," the female bat said as she pointed at Kassidy. "You have magic."

Kassidy crossed her arms at the female bat. "Yeah, I have magic, I'm a witch." She wouldn't deny it. "You going to judge me or something? Go ahead, give me all you got."

The female bat looked at her confused. "I wasn't going to judge you, what you just did there was actually pretty cool." The female bat got off the tree branch and flew over to Kassidy and then landed next to her and inspected her. "A Silverwing, I thought so."

"And I'm gonna guess that you're a Brightwing." This made Kassidy guess that because the bat's fur was very bright.

"Good guess, I am a Brightwing." The Brightwing inspected more of Kassidy. "You look a lot different from a lot of animals I've seen. Those drawings on you kind of look creepy and so does that thing around your neck, you kind of look like a-"

"Let me guess, a devil?" Kassidy asked a little irritated. She wasn't in the mood to talk about this. "A lot call me that but I'm not a devil, this is just my everyday look. These drawings on me are called tattoos and I picked these out and this thing around my neck is called a choker but it doesn't choke. I'm not dangerous, but if you have a problem with me and you're going to actually judge me then fly off."

The Brightwing put her hands up. "Okay, easy there I wasn't going to talk to you harshly." The Brightwing put down her hands. "You don't look like you enjoy it when anyone calls you… you know."

Kassidy sighed. "I'm sorry. It just sickens me that whenever anyone looks at me all they can see is a devil of a witch that might harm someone. A lot are afraid of me."

Kassidy rubbed her eyes and so badly wanted to find Holden and Shade and then go find the colony. Ariel was probably worried sick for them.

"Well… if it makes you feel any better I have this." The Brightwing lifted her arm and Kassidy saw that on her forearm was a silver band and she couldn't believe she missed that. "My colony banished me because of this. The elders told me that I was…" The Brightwing thought with her finger on her chin, "what was the word… unclean, that's it."

This made Kassidy confused, but sorry at the same time for the Brightwing. Frieda believed that those bands are part of a sign of Nocturna's promise. What did the Brightwing's old colony have against her band? She knew however she didn't have time to ask her about any of that.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, but listen, have you happened to of seen two Silverwings like me? They're both males and ones shorter than the other."

"Um, no, I haven't seen two Silverwings flying around here. The only bat I've seen today was you. But I'll tell you what, I can help you find them but it's going to have to be tomorrow night. The sun will be up soon and you can spend the day in my roost. We should probably get going though. No bats on this island, but plenty of owls."

"You sure? You really don't have a problem with me?"

"Why should I? I mean you and I are neglected and pushed away by a lot so I don't see why it wouldn't hurt to have someone like you around. You seem like someone I can trust, I mean it can't be that bad to be around a witch like you can it?"

Kassidy thought about this and she could use the Brightwing's help. She, after all, didn't seem that bad. She also didn't jump to conclusions which made Kassidy feel glad that she was okay with her being a witch. "Well if you insist then I guess I got no choice. It's nice to know that you're not one of the animals that judge me because of this." Kassidy used her hands to indicate herself.

"Is it really that bad?"

"You don't even know the half of it."

The Brightwing slowly nodded. "I think you and I will get along just fine. Follow me." The Brightwing took off and Kassidy took off to follow her. She wondered if the Brightwing would be right about them getting along. This Brightwing was interesting, no doubt about it but she was more concerned if Holden and Shade were alright. The Brightwing then looked back at Kassidy. "I'm Marina by the way."

"Kassidy, but call me Kass for short."

As they flew to Marina's roost they chatted for a little bit and then flew in silence. Kassidy repeated in her head as she flew that everything would be alright and that she would find the boys.

* * *

Holden awoke and he heard an ocean. He felt something wet and slimy on him and when he looked he saw that he was covered in something green. In fact, everywhere he looked he saw green. He then could smell something weird and it was salty and when he could see clearly what it was he immediately got disgusted when he saw that it was seaweed. He got up and managed to get his head and upper body out of the seaweed but some of the seaweed was on him and he was stuck. He then started to cough and then tried to get the seaweed off him.

"Great, just great," Holden said sarcastically.

He then heard something move beside him in the seaweed and he abruptly looked to his right to see that some of the seaweed was moving around. Holden got nervous and he was cussing in his head. Something was in the seaweed with him. Holden held his breath and then a creature popped up beside him and it was covered in seaweed. But when Holden got a better look at the creature he saw that it wasn't just a creature.

It was Shade.

The seaweed was all over Shade and he was coughing and he was disgusted as Holden that he was in seaweed. Holden sighed in relief when he saw that it was just Shade. "Shade!"

Shade looked at Holden and he looked relieved but worried at the same time. "Holden, you okay?"

Holden remembered that he and Shade fell from the sky when there was a big blast in the sky and he tried to fly but he couldn't. It was terrifying and he thought for sure that he would be as lifeless as a doll. He also remembered Mercury and Kassidy trying to rescue them. Then the last thing he remembered was Kassidy's face when she was going downward towards them with her wings furled against her body and she was like an asteroid about to hit the planet and then everything blackened after that like when he couldn't keep his eyes opened when he felt that gash on his back. Even thinking about it hurt on the inside.

"Somewhat," Holden looked back at the seaweed disgusted. "I hope I didn't sleep eat this stuff, although I don't think I did."

Shade looked around him and as he did his eyes widened in confusion. "Holden… where are we?"

Holden looked around him and he saw there were sand, rocks, an ocean near them, trees ahead of them and a lot of seaweed around them. It didn't take long for Holden to know where they were. "I think we're on an island."

Shade looked at Holden and shook his head. "An island? This is an island?" He looked more around him. "We're lost, we got separated from them from the storm last night!" Shade rubbed his temples and he sighed in frustration. "Why didn't we listen to my Mom and Kassidy? If we would've listened to them we wouldn't be here right now."

"Smalls, calm down. Maybe the colony is searching for us right now I mean who knows? They could be somewhere near."

Shade looked at Holden and he didn't look sure about what Holden said. "I don't know… but we should get this stuff off of us."

Holden nodded and then they tried to get the seaweed off of them but then Holden started to hear something. It was loud and it sounded like constant snapping. Holden turned to the snapping and it was coming from behind a rock. He used his echo vision towards it and then he saw something crawl onto the rock and this was one of the top five animals he hated the most.

It was a crab.

It was red and it had beady black eyes and it was constantly snapping its claws together and then a couple more started to appear on the rock and Holden gasped. He looked back at Shade. "Shade, twelve o' clock!"

Shade looked at Holden confused. "What?"

Holden grunted panicked remembering that Shade didn't know what that meant and he pointed towards the crabs. "Crabs!"

Holden then saw that the crabs were advancing towards them and he then heard Shade gasp. Then as fast as they could, the boys tried to get out of the seaweed and as they did the crabs were getting more close to them. Holden then saw that the crabs were now near them and he cussed. The crabs tried to grab them with their claws and Holden and Shade yelped.

"Hey, come on!" Shade said trying to reason with them.

"Crabs are not friendly, Shade!" Holden said as he was trying to get out of the seaweed.

The crabs tried to grab them again but luckily they only managed to cut the seaweed and Holden and Shade took off from the ground before the crabs could get them and they flew off as fast and far as they could away from them. They were breathing hard but they kept flying towards the trees as they heard the last of the crabs snapping.

"Holden, remind me to never go anywhere near crabs again!"

"I'll definitely remind you the next time we come across any crabs again!"

"Great, but right now we need a roost!"

They flew towards a tree and were about to get inside the foliage of it but they saw some sort of beast and they got scared and flew away from it. They then flew through a hole of a tree but inside it was another sort of beast and they screamed and flew out of it fast. Not seeing where they were going they then hit a totem pole and they groaned in pain but they shook it off and continued to fly. They then saw an old wooden shack and this was their only chance to roost and they flew as fast as they could towards it.

Shade looked behind him and he gasped and Holden knew immediately that Shade saw that the sun was rising. Shade looked at Holden. "Come on, hurry!"

Using all the wingbeats they had they eventually flew through a huge crack big enough for the both of them and they flew inside before the sun came up. As soon as they got inside they roosted next to each other on a rope and they were out of breath and scared as they furled their wings against their bodies. There were fishing nets, old sails, oily blankets, moss all over the place, and a lot of rope connected to beams and other totem poles.

They then heard mice and they were very disturbed when they looked around them. To Holden, this place was very creepy and it reminded him of that one time when he and his friends did a challenge to spend the night in an abandoned cabin that was said to be haunted. It did not end well for him and his friends and because of that, they had nightmares for a whole week. One of his friends even said he thought he saw a ghost when they were in that cabin.

"Where… are we?" Shade asked.

"Some sort of house I guess, I don't know," Holden said. "But if Kassidy were here she would know exactly what this place is."

They heard movement and they looked to see that stuff and junk was moving around them and they were getting even more disturbed. There were more mice squeaking and this made Holden want to get the heck out of here, but he knew they couldn't go outside.

Shade looked at Holden. "This is going to have to do… I don't like it but what else can we do?"

Holden looked at Shade. "I guess we should get some sleep… we can figure things out in the night."

Shade yawned and nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right…" He looked worried but he was also tired like Holden and he looked at him. "See you in the night." He then fell asleep.

Holden yawned and he then cracked his shoulders as he rolled them after flying so fast and even though they cracked so loud, Shade was still asleep. Holden then relaxed and didn't want to think about anything else until tomorrow. He then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N- Hey, guys, another chapter down. My goal was to get it done today and I accomplished it. Next chapter will be out soon, later.**


	11. Four Bats and an Island

**Chapter 11**

**Four Bats and an Island**

* * *

"Holden," Holden felt tapping and he grunted, not wanting to wake up and wanted to sleep more. The tapping felt harder this time and Holden was getting annoyed. "Holden, wake up."

Holden stirred awake and he yawned as he rubbed his eyes. He furled his wings against his body and looked at Shade tiresome. "What? Why did you wake me?"

Shade was looking around him nervously. "I heard something… I think someone's in here."

"Smalls, it's probably just those stupid mice again." Holden turned his back to Shade. "Now will you leave me alone? I'm trying to-"

Holden then heard wing flaps and that made his eyes widen. He slowly turned to look at Shade and he was looking at him. They then heard something crawling and they looked to where they heard it and it was near a totem pole of where a beam was.

Shade looked at Holden. "Did that sound like a mouse to you?"

Holden knew for sure that mice didn't have wings. They heard more crawling and wing flaps and at this point, Holden was getting freaked out as he and Shade used their echo vision to find the source that was making all that noise. What was making all that noise? He wanted it to stop. He didn't know what could be in here but he didn't want to know. He still wished he could still believe that it was mice causing all that ruckus and go back to sleep, but he clearly couldn't. He almost died from that storm last night but he didn't want to die like this. He so badly wanted to get back in his human form and go home.

Holden tried to stay calm and didn't want to make this a big deal. Maybe he was just overreacting like Shade and that they were doing it for nothing. They kept looking around and using their echo vision as they kept hearing the crawling and the flapping of wings.

All the sudden Holden and Shade saw something fly near them and they screamed as did the other figure. Before they could clearly see what it was, the figure flew behind a totem pole. Shade was covering his eyes while Holden's jaw was hanging wide open as if he just encountered something out of the ordinary. Holden couldn't tell what it was but he saw there was some brightness from it. Not only that, he thought that scream sounded like it came from a female.

Holden then saw the figure look from behind the totem pole and Holden noticed that it was a bat and it was a she. Holden closed his mouth and Holden didn't know if he should be terrified of her or not. She had pale blonde hair, light green eyes, beige fur, a dark brown mane, and orange wings. She looked a little frightened and then she frowned. She didn't look terrifying but she certainly didn't look happy.

"You're… you're a bat," Holden said.

"You're a genius-of course I'm a bat," said the female bat sarcastically as she had one hand and one foot on the totem pole.

"Huh?" Shade uncovered his eyes and he looked at the female bat. He looked at her curiously. "Who are you?"

"Not so fast." The female bat looked at Shade. "I ask the questions around here." She then pointed at Shade. "What's your name?"

"Shade…"

The female bat then pointed at Holden. "And yours?"

Holden didn't like this bat's attitude and she kind of reminded him of Kassidy. He furrowed his brow at her. "Holden and who the hell do you think you are of scaring the bejesus out of us?"

"As I said, I ask the questions around here. This is my roost after all."

"Oh, I see, so we're supposed to answer your questions like you own this whole island? Yeah, real mature."

"Actually, this is my island and you and your friend here were not invited in here."

Holden crossed his arms. "Well sorry, maybe you should've had a sign saying 'No trespassing' and then maybe we wouldn't have flown in here. But can you really blame us? The sun was coming up and this was our only option."

The female bat looked at him confused and then frowned again. "Don't know what planet you're from but where I'm from, I don't have signs."

"And what is the name of your island anyway, 'Weird bat's island?'"

"Has anyone ever told you that you have the mouth of a fly? You're obnoxious as them because you're talking is making me go insane. You would be much more likable if it wasn't for that hole in your mouth that noise comes out of."

Holden's eyes widened at what the female bat just said. _Ouch._

"What's going on?"

Holden shook his head and he thought he recognized that voice. He and Shade looked to where they heard that voice and they were stunned when they saw who it was. Same ruby red hair and mane, same yale blue fur and wings, same choker, and the same tattoos. Hanging from a beam upside down was Kassidy. She was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and from the looks of it she looked really exhausted.

Shade beamed. "Kass!" He took off immediately and made his way over to Kassidy and as soon as he got to her he flew straight into her and Kassidy yelped and they fell to the ground. They hit the ground but Shade was on top of her and he hugged her tightly. "You're here!"

Kassidy looked surprised but when she looked to see who it was she smiled. "Shade, it's you!"

Holden took off and then landed next to Kassidy and Shade and he was actually glad to see Kassidy. He couldn't believe he didn't see Kassidy in here. Shade got off of Kassidy and she got up and then looked at Holden. She still looked really strong, even though she looked tired.

"Holden, you're here as well."

"Did we give you a heart attack?" Kassidy then got mad and punched Holden in the arm. "Ow!"

Kassidy then punched Shade in the arm. "Ow!"

Holden and Shade rubbed their arms. Holden hated to admit it but her punch was really hard and he thought he could already feel a bruise coming on.

"That's for not listening to Ariel and I. You're lucky that you two are even alive right now. I've been searching for you guys all night and I had to fly off course just to try and rescue you guys and now Ariel is probably extremely worried for all three of us."

Holden had no idea that Kassidy was searching for them all night and it did probably explain why she looked really tired. He felt bad that Kassidy went through all that just to go find them. But Frieda was right when she said that Kassidy was willing to go as far as to risk herself for her friends and family.

Shade looked at her very guilty. "I'm sorry, Kass… we should've listened to you and my Mom, you're right."

Holden rubbed his neck and then sighed. "I'm… I'm sorry too."

Kassidy then breathed through her nose and she then sighed. She no longer looked mad but she did have a worried expression on her face. He sometimes didn't understand Kassidy. "Well… the important thing is, is that I didn't find you two dead. I'm glad that you guys are okay."

The female bat landed near Kassidy and Holden furrowed his brow again at her. Who was that female bat and what was her problem? "So… these must be the two bats you were looking for." The female bat then looked at Kassidy. "What's your relationship with them?"

Kassidy looked at the female bat. "These are my friends. I'm sure they told you their names by now."

"They did and the one named Holden really has got one big loud mouth."

"Uh, hello?" Holden said. "I'm standing right here."

"That's how he is," Kassidy said. "And yeah, he can be annoying at times."

Holden did feel mad but he decided to not make this such a big deal. He did talk a lot and sometimes he doesn't realize it and usually he'd talk loud just so everyone could hear him loud and clear. Sometimes he can take it too far with his talking and sometimes the results didn't end too well for him and the others. This was one of the reasons why he was considered a trouble maker.

Shade was looking at the female bat confused. "What's wrong with your fur?"

The female bat looked at Shade confused. "Wrong? What do you mean?" She looked at her fur and then she looked at Shade while scowling with her hands on her hips. "There is nothing wrong with my fur."

"Eh, it's all… light."

The female bat looked at Holden. "I'm guessing you don't know what I am either."

Holden didn't change his expression. "If I knew what you were I would've said it in a millisecond."

The female bat smiled sarcastically. "Huh, one small and clueless and one obnoxious and also clueless." She rolled her eyes. "Your friend here guessed on the first try and she got it right. I'm a Brightwing of course." The Brightwing lifted her long and narrow wings.

"I-I didn't know there were other kinds of bats," Shade said.

"Where have you been living, under a rock?" The Brightwing said as she lowered her wings.

"No… in a tree." Shade said lowering his voice while looking at the ground.

"There are a lot of different kinds of bats, Shade," Kassidy said. "It's okay that you didn't know, but at least you're learning something new."

The Brightwing looked at Kassidy. "So, what brings you guys out here?"

Kassidy looked at the Brightwing. "We were migrating with the other Silverwings to our next destination and then we got caught in this huge storm and that's when these two fell from the sky and that's when I had to go and try and save them."

"So that means we're separated from the colony," Shade said.

"Yeah… that's pretty much it."

The Brightwing looked at Shade and Holden and then she laid her eyes on Shade. "Guess your wings weren't big enough to make the flight." Shade looked offended by what the Brightwing just said and she then looked at Holden. "But you've got some big wings but yet you fell from the sky? Pretty interesting when you think about it."

Holden didn't even know why he was still in here with her when she was going to act like this. She didn't know the real reason why he couldn't keep up with the colony and he hated his wings for making him fall from the sky. Why couldn't he have a strong flight like Kassidy? Why did this have to be so embarrassing for him? Why did it have to be him?

"You know what?" Holden said. "Screw it, I don't need this. I'm outta here." Holden turned around and spread opened his wings and was about to take off.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" The Brightwing asked.

Holden looked at the Brightwing. "Anywhere where I can get away from you."

"Actually, I don't even know why I wanted to talk to you," Shade said as he flew over to Holden and landed next to him. He then narrowed his eyes at the Brightwing. "I'm with Holden on this one."

"Guys, will you two stop acting ridiculous?" Kassidy asked as she looked at the boys annoyed with her arms crossed. "She's just teasing you."

"She wasn't teasing us when she showed herself," Holden said.

"You've only known her for a few minutes now, give her a chance. She's really not that bad."

Holden didn't want to believe that the Brightwing _wasn't_ that bad. To him, she looked very unwelcoming to the boys. Holden then thought of something that he never thought about until just now. Where was her colony and why wasn't she with them?

The Brightwing flew over to the boys and then landed in between them and then she put her arms on their shoulders. "She does have a point, you've only known little ol' me for a few minutes. How about I show you guys around the island? Just so you know where my territory is." The Brightwing then took off towards the hole of where the boys came in.

Holden didn't look at the Brightwing and then he fake coughed and said: "Bitch."

"Oh, and by the way," Holden jumped when he saw the Brightwing near him airborne. He didn't even hear her come near him. "My name's Marina." Marina then took off for the hole again.

Kassidy got near Holden and Shade and they looked at her. "Come on, plus I think you guys will get to know her better if you talked to her nicely." Kassidy then took off after Marina.

Holden couldn't believe that Kassidy had no problem with Marina. Why didn't she have a problem with her? He then wondered how long they've been talking for since they met.

Shade sighed annoyed. "Guess we got no choice."

"You can say that again," Holden said.

The boys then took off to follow Kassidy and Marina. Holden hated the idea of having Marina as a tour guide and Kassidy suggesting that they tried talking _nicely_ to her, but Holden wouldn't promise that he would make that happen.

* * *

Kassidy flew next to Marina and the boys were flying behind them. She knew that neither of the two wanted to fly next to Marina, so she decided that it would be best that if she flew next to her as she gave a tour. Kassidy was pretty astonished that Marina practically owned almost all this island. She gave her tour to them like it was nothing, as if she's done this before, and she looked pretty confident while doing so.

As they were flying, Kassidy saw that Shade was looking around the island pretty fascinated like when four English siblings, Lucy, Peter, Edmund, and Susan entered through a wardrobe to find themselves in Narnia. Holden, on the other hand, was not enjoying this. Every time when Kassidy looked back to look at the boys, Holden would sometimes grunt under his breath or roll his eyes as Marina kept talking. Holden didn't even notice Kassidy staring at him a little mad and when he saw she was, Kassidy mouthed to him to "Knock it off". He started to behave a little bit better, but not fully. She didn't like that Holden was acting like this again and it was getting quite irritating, to say the least.

She looked back at Marina and she was still giving them the tour. "From the barnacle-covered rocks to the old cedar tree, that's mine. From the waterfall to the north cove, that's mine."

"You have this whole place to yourself?" Shade asked.

"Pretty much." Marina smiled.

Shade looked down at the ocean they were flying over and was still fascinated. "We're totally surrounded by water."

"Well duh, that's what an island is," Marina said looking annoyed that Shade didn't know that.

"If I'm being honest right now, I think that's pretty cool," Kassidy said as they were flying over the ocean. "Having a whole island to yourself must be something. How long have you lived here?"

Marina looked at Kassidy. "Since late spring."

"That's refreshing to hear," Holden said scoffing and that got an annoyed look from Marina. "So really, it's just you?"

"Until you guys came along. It's really not that bad here."

"Being alone on an island? I have a hard time believing that."

"You know what I have a hard time believing? You falling from the sky."

Kassidy sighed annoyed that Holden wasn't trying to be friendly towards Marina. Now she knew for sure she wanted to learn that spell to mute someone's voice.

"Hey," Kassidy, Holden, and Marina looked at Shade and he was pointing at something in the ocean, "what're those?"

Kassidy heard splashing and when she looked down she was in awe to see that in the ocean were orcas and she instantly smiled. "Oh my god, orcas!" She flew down towards the ocean-and even though they were also known as killer whales-she flew close but far enough away from them to get a better look at them. "This is amazing! I've always wanted to see one. This is off my bucket list."

There were a whole load of animals Kassidy wanted to see and this made her day to see an orca. One down, plenty to go-even though she's seen some of the animals in zoos she wanted to see them for real in other places.

She then heard Marina laughing and she looked up to see Marina and Shade flying over a whale as it blew water out of its blowhole. Holden, however, was still in midair and still didn't change his attitude. Marina then looked over her shoulder at Shade. "Can't handle the pace, kid?"

Shade was breathing hard but managed to look at Marina as he flew with his eyes widened. "What? Huh, I'm just uh…uh… keeping my bearings! Heh…"

"You're obviously too small to make it back to the mainland. Never mind catching up to your colony, so-"

"I don't care!" Shade shouted at Marina. "I'm not going back."

Kassidy shook her head shocked and she immediately flew towards Shade and Marina. She got near Shade as did Holden and he looked confused at the outburst Shade just said. Shade didn't look at them but Kassidy furrowed her brow. "What're you talking about?" Kassidy said. "Of course you need to go back. We all need to go back to the colony. Why the hell don't you care?"

Shade looked at Kassidy a little guilty. "Kass, don't you get it? Why should we go back when we broke the law? It's probably best that we-"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on," Marina said as she stopped in front of Kassidy, Holden, and Shade to stop them and she looked at them seriously as they were all airborne. "You three broke a law?"

Yesterday, Kassidy didn't tell Marina that she and her friends broke the law of looking at the sun. Mostly because she was more concerned for her friends than talking about breaking the law. Even though it was a big deal she didn't want to bring it up but since Shade said it out loud she knew they weren't getting out of this. She didn't know how Marina would react but she had the slightest hint at what it might be.

"Yeah, it was one of those days where we were just hanging out," Holden said. "Then an idea crept into Shade's mind and-"

"We looked at the sun," Shade said getting to the point and Marina's eyes went wide and she gasped.

Shade flew into the forest and Kassidy and Holden followed. Holden was clucking his tongue as he furrowed his brow. Shade looked at neither Kassidy nor Holden but he kept on flying. "Well congrats, smalls," Holden scoffed. "You handled that very well back there."

Shade ignored Holden and kept on flying until he landed on a high tree branch upside down and he folded his wings against his body. Kassidy and Holden landed near him and they folded their wings against their bodies and looked at Shade. Kassidy was getting sick of how the boys were behaving so far and she felt as though she was a single mother trying to raise kids. She really couldn't believe that Shade didn't want to go back but she understood why he didn't. She told herself she wouldn't go find the colony until she had the boys with her and she intended on getting them and herself back to them.

Kassidy then heard wing flaps and felt some wind and she looked to see that Marina landed upside down near them. She was still shocked by what Shade said and Kassidy could tell. She could read it all on Marina's face. "You guys looked at the sun?" Marina then started to laugh. "Uh, huh, you're pulling my wing."

"No, we really did," Shade said. "But the owls found out and destroyed our home. Holden and Kassidy even got proof."

Marina looked at Kassidy and Holden. "What kind of proof?"

Holden sighed annoyed and then he used his thumb to point at his back. "You see that scratch there?" Marina looked at Holden's back and her eyes went wide. "I got this when an owl was chasing us down."

Kassidy rubbed her temples and she sighed. Looking back at the owls and the burning of Tree Haven was not something Kassidy liked to look back on, like when she found out her parents were dead and her horrific dreams. Trying not to think about any of that wasn't easy for Kassidy but she tried to bottle it all up and hope for the best.

Kassidy then looked back at Marina. "This burn mark right here-" she pointed at her burn on her shoulder, "I got it from trying to save our home."

It wasn't technically Kassidy and Holden's home but Kassidy treated it like it was home. Shade, Frieda, Ariel, Mercury, and some other bats were nice enough to them- well most of the bats anyways. It was still heartbreaking that Tree Haven was gone and the thought of even watching that scene over and over again could only make it feel like torture.

Marina looked uncomfortable when she saw Kassidy and Holden's injuries that Kassidy noticed she was rubbing her arm. _Guess she believes us now._

"We may be alive, but it doesn't change the fact that it's our fault," Shade looked at the ground sadly. "The colony's better off without us… especially me."

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other and Kassidy could tell that Holden felt the same sympathy for Shade as she did. They all knew they did something wrong but Kassidy knew that it was something they could not change and that they had to stick by what they did. She then got closer to Shade and as soon as she did she put her hand on his shoulder and as soon as she did, Shade looked at her.

"Shade, do you remember what I said to you when you were navigating Holden and me to my jeep? I said that you shouldn't let them get to you. I know they were frightened and mad at us for what we did but you still have a Mom that loves you and if you didn't return how do you think she would feel? She's spent her whole life trying to protect you and you do care about her don't you?"

"Well, yeah-"

"Then show her that you do by finding the colony with us. You know that I'm right, we have to find them. Lawbreakers or not they're still our colony no matter what."

Shade looked behind Kassidy at Holden with a thoughtful look in his eyes. After a few seconds, he finally looked at Kassidy and sighed. "Alright… I don't even know what I was thinking. I'll go back to the colony with you guys."

Kassidy took her hand off Shade's shoulder. "Sometimes we think clearly and sometimes we don't, it's just the way of life."

"Smalls, I hate to say it but I would've carried you if you still refused to go with us to find the colony," Holden said.

Shade rolled his eyes while smirking. "I can already see how that would work out for you."

Marina looked at all three of the Silverwings and smiled weakly. "I gotta say, you guys are some pairs of bats." Marina then looked at Kassidy and her expression changed to confusion. "By the way, what's a jeep?"

Kassidy thought that since Marina knew that she was a witch and that she and the boys broke the law she figured that maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell her that she and Holden were humans. She, after all, did say that Kassidy looked trustworthy-even though a lot looked at her and said that she looked dangerous. What harm would it do if she told her? "Well here's something that's going to be more shocking-seeing as though you now know that I'm a witch and that we broke the law."

"Wait, you told her that you're a witch?" Holden asked.

"Actually, I saw her use her magic," Marina said. "That's actually how we met and what she did was quite something."

"Yeah, so anyways," Kassidy continued, "a jeep is a type of transportation used to go from one place to another and that's what Holden I use at certain times." Kassidy could tell that Marina was not getting this as she saw that she had more confusion in her eyes. "Holden and I are humans."

Marina's eyes went wide and she looked from Kassidy to Holden a couple of times. She then looked at Shade and he was nodding his head at her. She then thought about it and everything was silent as if everything around them was actually watching them to see what would happen next. She then looked back at Kassidy. "Now that you say you and Holden are humans it does make sense. You and Holden used words that I never heard of before and Holden did fall from the sky from a storm. But how did you turn into bats exactly?"

Kassidy then started to explain to Marina about everything and Holden and Shade did a little explaining too but mostly Kassidy talked. They told her about the car crash, the robbery, the kidnapping of her family and so forth and Marina listened carefully and didn't stop them and as they did she only got more shocked. Talking about that stuff was hard to get out but Kassidy managed to get the story out and so did her friends.

"Wow… that's really horrible," Marina said. "So you have no idea who the culprit or culprits might be?"

"No. But I'm determined to find out and I'll do anything to save my family," Kassidy looked down a little angry and she curled her hands into fists. "Even if it means I'd have to sell my soul to save them."

Kassidy meant what she said. What mattered the most to her was her family's safety. Whoever had them had to be very dangerous. After the wreckage, she saw in the house and that note she read was not a good sign. She couldn't even imagine what the person or these people were doing to them right now. They were probably scared of what was going on, especially her cousins. Addison and Reese were two innocent little girls and the thought of them even getting hurt could only make Kassidy feel some anger but not too much, seeing as though she didn't want to unleash the flame. If her family was hurt by that person or those people she would never forgive them for what they did.

Marina dropped to a branch below them and she looked up at Kassidy with a weak smile. "Well… I'm sure you'll find them. Whoever has them can't hide them forever."

"You've got a band!" Shade was pointing at the band Marina had on.

Holden looked and he saw Marina's band on her forearm before she could hide it. "She does have a band, you're right."

"What band?" Marina asked. "Oh, you mean this band?" Marina lifted her forearm with the band on it and she looked at it. She then looked back at Shade and Holden sharply. "You two got a problem with it?"

"Why would we? It's a band and it's not like we're having a fashion show."

"Yeah… what he said, and besides should we have a problem with it?" Shade asked.

"Don't you know?" Marina said. "It's cursed." She turned her hands into fists and she bared her teeth.

Shade yelped and his expression had fear in it. "C-Cursed?"

"I'm hungry, let's hunt." Marina then took off.

Shade then looked at Kassidy. "I-Is that… possible? Can a band be cursed?"

Kassidy looked back at Marina and this really got her confused. Humans didn't curse bands, the bands were actually meant to help the animals. What was this whole curse thing about?

She looked back at Shade. "I don't know where she got that idea from but I know for a fact that cursed bands are not a thing. Like I said when we were in the echo chamber, the bands are used for a good purpose."

"Are curses real?"

Kassidy was about to respond but then Marina's voice intervened. "Hey, branch buddies, you coming or not?"

Holden grunted. "Let's go, guys before crazy head gets more on my nerves. Besides I'm hungry too." Holden released his grip on the branch he was hanging from and he flew off and then he said under his breath: "Man, what I would give to have some pizza right now."

Kassidy looked back at Shade and he was still creeped out by what Marina said. She wanted him to take his mind off of it for a little bit. Hunting, after all, wouldn't be bad for him.

Kassidy smiled weakly at Shade. "Come on, let's go hunting. I think we both need it anyways.

Shade smiled weakly and he nodded. They both let go of the branch and they flew off to catch up with Holden and Marina.

* * *

**A/N- Another chapter down, guys. It took a while but I got it done. Well I'll have the next chapter out soon and until then, I'll see you guys later.**


	12. The Bright Side

**Chapter 12**

**The Bright Side**

* * *

The four bats flew in silence while they were hunting for food. Kassidy and Marina had some good catches to satisfy their hunger while Shade had a couple good catches too, but still couldn't get himself a tiger moth. Holden, on the other hand, had a bit of a struggle with his hunting. Kassidy noticed that he was going for the more advanced and hard ones rather than the ones that were easier to catch for him and whenever he tried to catch one of the advanced bugs he would crash into something or fly out of control. Holden would get furious but he kept trying to hunt. Kassidy didn't know when was the last time he even tried to go for the easier bugs but she could tell that he was trying to hunt the more advanced bugs just so he could be where she, Shade, and Marina were. She asked him one time if he needed help but he declined the offer and kept hunting.

Kassidy, Shade, and Marina then got near a tree branch and planted their feet on it and hung upside down after flying for a while. Marina and Kassidy had tiger moths in their hands and they were good catches. Kassidy was about to eat her tiger moth until she noticed that Holden was still hunting and he was trying to chase down a tiger moth. He had his eyes locked on it and he was using his echo vision on it and his teeth were bared in anger. To Kassidy, he looked like a bull ready to knock down someone at the moment. He was trying very hard to catch his prey and this made Kassidy think about when she first had her struggles with hunting down insects. It was frustrating for her but she eventually got the hang of it after a while and now she was pretty much an expert at it. If Holden would've learned to hunt when Kassidy was learning how to hunt he probably would've been an expert at it as well.

"That's the third tiger moth he tried to hunt down today," Marina said. "It's going to take him all night to try and catch one."

"Well you never you know," Shade then looked at Marina. "Maybe he'll catch this one."

"Maybe."

The three of them watched as Holden chased the tiger moth. He sometimes got tricked by it and he cursed but Holden didn't hold back and kept going. He then flapped his wings harder and when he tried to bite into it, the moth flew down and Holden tried to adjust his flight but he didn't have a whole lot of time and he crashed into a tree.

"Oh!" Kassidy, Shade, and Marina shouted simultaneously and they had their eyes widened.

Holden then fell to the ground and he was groaning in pain. He rubbed his forehead with his eyes squeezed shut. After a few minutes, he then sat up and kept rubbing his forehead.

"Holden, you okay?" Shade asked.

Holden looked up at the three and they saw that a bump was forming on his forehead. "Yeah… I'm fine, just the forehead." Holden then looked around him and he then furrowed his brow. "Damn it, he got away." He then got up and took off from the ground and landed on the tree branch Kassidy, Shade, and Marina were on and hung upside down next to Kassidy. "Why do some of these bugs have to be so difficult to catch?"

Kassidy looked at the moth she was holding and she then sighed now not feeling hungry for it. She had plenty of food to eat but not Holden and she didn't want him to starve. Sharing is caring she thought.

She then lifted the moth towards Holden. "Here."

Holden looked at the moth Kassidy was giving to him and he was surprised. He looked back at Kassidy. "It's your moth though."

"I insist you take it, besides I'm full. You need it more than I do."

Holden looked back at the tiger moth and deciding not to waste it, he slowly took the moth from Kassidy. He looked back at Kassidy with a weak smile. "Thanks." He then put the moth in his mouth and he chewed on it and from the look on his face, Kassidy could tell that he was enjoying the tiger moth. He then swallowed his moth. "Wow, that was pretty good."

Kassidy was glad she gave him the tiger moth. If she didn't he probably would've kept trying to hunt down one. She would've helped him though if he didn't stop.

"I-I was out hunting… all alone," Kassidy, Holden, and Shade looked at Marina and she was staring at her tiger moth sadly.

"Huh?" Holden said.

Marina turned to face the three Silverwings. "Suddenly I was hanging in midair, caught in a huge net. Then… this giant hand reached in and…that's when they banded me." She looked back down sadly as if she was guilty of a crime.

"Then what happened?" Shade asked.

"I flew home, but when the other Brightwings saw me with this band-" Marina lifted up her banded arm and looked back at the three Silverwings, "they banished me."

"Why?"

Marina narrowed her eyes. "When the humans tag you, you're marked for certain death." Marina plopped the tiger moth into her mouth and ate it.

Kassidy, Holden, and Shade looked at each other confused. Kassidy definitely knew that it wasn't true. What Marina said was wrong. She didn't know where the Brightwings got that idea from but she thought that maybe they were frightened about it.

"That's not true," Kassidy said and Marina looked at Kassidy. "They actually serve a good purpose for any animal really." Marina didn't respond to Kassidy and looked back down. "Did your parents try to help you not get banished?"

"I really don't want to talk about it."

Kassidy could understand that. She thought that Marina went through a difficult time and she didn't want to upset her any further. When her parents died she didn't like or want to talk about it and it was too painful for her to bear back then. Even now it's still painful for her.

"Well if what Kassidy said is true then the bands probably are not cursed," Shade said. "I mean we know someone that-"

Marina got in Shade's face bitterly. "I don't want to talk about it." She then released her grip on the branch and flew away from the three Silverwings.

Without hesitating, the three Silverwings released their grips from the tree branch they were on and followed Marina. Holden looked at Kassidy and Shade. "Did she have to be rude about it?" Kassidy and Shade scowled at Holden. "What?"

"Holden, she's been through something that she doesn't want to talk about," Kassidy said. "A lot can be like that when they've been through hard times. I know I have and so have Shade and you."

"Look, man," Shade said. "I know you still probably don't like Marina but Kassidy does bring up a good point." Shade then got confused. "You've been through something?"

"Another story for another time," Holden said.

The three Silverwings followed Marina as they flew over the ocean again. They were flying over orcas again and Kassidy smiled again to hear the orcas whistling. The orcas lifted to the surface and as soon as they did they blew water out of their blowholes.

Shade gasped. "What the?"

"Hey, short stuff," Marina shouted to Shade. "Check this out." Marina flew closer to one of the orcas and so did the three Silverwings. "See those holes on the top of their heads? They breathe through them." Marina flew near the blowhole on one of the orcas and as soon as she did the water shot out and the water lifted her up and she flipped in the air and she laughed.

Shade laughed. "Awesome! I'm gonna try that."

Marina flew near Shade. "Sure you can handle it? It takes skill and timing."

"If you can do it, it can't be that hard." Shade flew near an orca and got near its blowhole. Then water shot up from the blowhole and Shade lifted to the air and flipped. "Whoa!" Shade then stopped spinning in the air after the water stopped shooting from the blowhole and he looked at the three bats and smiled. He then flew near Marina. "Heh, yeah."

"Not bad," Marina said. "Course your form could use a little work." She then looked at Kassidy and Holden. "You guys should try it, it's tons of fun."

Kassidy looked down at the orcas still smiling and she definitely wanted to try it. All she had to do was get near one of their blowholes. She thought it looked easy. Even when she saw Shade and Marina do it she thought it looked like a blast. She also thought a little bit of fun wouldn't hurt anybody.

She looked at Holden. "Come on, I dare you to try this with me."

Holden looked at Kassidy and he smiled. "Please, I'll take on any dare. Trust me. I happen to be the King of taking dares."

"We'll see, 'Your Highness'."

Kassidy and Holden flew near an orca and got near its blowhole and waited for water to shoot out of it. After a few seconds of waiting, water shot out from the orca's blowhole and the water lifted Kassidy and Holden into the air and they flipped together in the air like they were acrobats and they were laughing.

"Yeeee haw!" Holden shouted.

Kassidy felt like she was at a water park and the salty water somehow calmed her from worrying about what's been happening. She and Holden then regained their flight and Kassidy flew towards the water and using the tips of her wings she touched the water and made huge ripples. With her smile so big she then started to glow brightly as she flew next to the orcas. Then with a few huge flap of her wings, she flew up as if she was a shooting star and landed her feet on one of the orcas' fins and she then spread opened her wings as if she was surfing on the beach again. Whenever she went to the beach she would always go surfing and it was a good sensation to even think about. The orca swayed to the sides hard but Kassidy stayed in place.

She then saw Shade do the same thing and she then smiled mischievously at him. Shade almost lost his balance when the orca he was riding on also swayed to the sides hard. She looked at the water and using her water spell she concentrated on making some water float and with enough concentration, some of the water floated. She guided the water over to the top of Shade's head and then she dropped her hand and the water fell on top of Shade. Shade yelped in surprise and he coughed. Kassidy laughed while Shade shook the wetness away and after he did that he looked at Kassidy a little annoyed. He was about to speak to her but he then stared in awe at her. She knew why he was but she kept smiling and shrugged.

The orcas Kassidy and Shade were riding on were going back under, so they got off of them and flapped their wings and as soon as they did, the orcas made huge splashes. Shade flew next to Kassidy. "Kass, how are you glowing?"

"Whenever I smile too much I glow like this."

"That's amazing."

Kassidy then saw Holden get near another blowhole of a whale and the water instantly shot out of it and Holden looked like he was having the best time of his life as he whooped and flipped in the air. Kassidy and Shade laughed as Holden then regained his flight and flew downwards near the ocean. He looked up to Kassidy and Shade. "What do you have to say about that?"

"Not too shabby, Holden," Kassidy shouted towards Holden. "You might, after all, be the King of dare taking."

Marina laughed as she flew next to Holden and his smile instantly faded away the moment she got near him and he looked away from her. "Not too bad for a human bat yourself, a little more practice and you'll be almost as good as me."

"Yeah, whatever," Holden said.

Without Holden or Marina realizing it, an orca was advancing towards them. Kassidy noticed that they didn't see the orca behind them and her glow faded as her eyes widened in shock. She noticed that Shade saw that too.

"Marina," Shade shouted. "Holden! Look out behind you!"

Holden and Marina looked behind them and when they saw that the orca behind them had its mouth wide open they gasped with their eyes widened. They screamed and flapped their wings as hard and as fast as they could but without a struggle, the orca closed its huge mouth around them and then dove back into the water. Kassidy and Shade's jaws dropped.

Holden and Marina were inside the orca.

Kassidy and Shade followed the orca that Holden and Marina were in as fast as they could and they made sure not to lose it. Kassidy was not intending on this orca eating Holden and Marina alive on her watch. They were breathing hard as they followed the orca and it hadn't come out of the water yet. Orcas could stay under for a long time and she hoped that the orca would pop back up to the surface sometime soon because they needed to help them. Eventually to Kassidy's relief, the orca made it back up to the surface after a while.

Shade looked at Kassidy. "Kass, what do we do?"

Kassidy looked at the blowhole and even though this looked risky it was worth a shot. "Shade, orcas can't breathe without their blowhole. We need to cover it so they can get out."

Shade looked towards the blowhole and nodded. "I might need you if I fall off of it. I'll go cover it." He then flew towards the orca.

"Shade, be careful, orcas can be very aggressive!"

Shade flew towards the orca and as he did the orca shot water out of its blowhole and he waited until the orca was done with what he was doing. He then landed on the orca's back and then he laid on his stomach and covered its blowhole. "Let them go!"

Kassidy then saw that the orca's eyes widened and then it narrowed its eyes towards Shade and she then knew that wasn't a good sign. The orca then swayed far to its right and left side to try and get Shade off of him and he also used his upper body to lift up and down rapidly to get him off him as well and Shade almost slipped off a few times but he kept covering the hole. The orca then jumped out of the water and Shade hollered as it did and the orca then landed in the water and Shade was underwater with it. Kassidy saw bubbles forming at the top of the surface but she kept following as she saw that Shade was still hanging on. Kassidy felt as though she was watching a rodeo. The orca then jumped out of the water again and Shade hollered as it did the same thing as last time.

"Shade, hang on!" Kassidy shouted.

The orca then landed in the water again and went under it, taking Shade with it again. After a few seconds, the orca resurfaced and Shade kept hanging onto the blowhole. Kassidy flew near Shade and the orca but far enough away from them. Shade looked a little scared at what he just did but to Kassidy, she thought he did very well. It was pretty much a brave move what he did there.

As if hinting that Shade wasn't going to give up, the orca opened its mouth and Holden and Marina flew out and Marina cried out disgusted while Holden looked scared to death but also disgusted as they were covered in seawater and the orca's saliva. The orca then shot water from its blowhole and it made Shade float to the sky and he screamed. After the water stopped shooting in the air, Shade regained his flight and he sighed relieved. Kassidy took the chance to fly to Shade and as soon as she got near him she was airborne.

"Nice job,"

Shade looked at Kassidy and he gave her a weak smile.

They then heard breathing and it sounded as if someone was hyperventilating and they looked to see that it was Holden and Marina was airborne next to him trying to calm him down. Kassidy and Shade looked at each other and then they made their way to them. As soon as they got to them they saw that Holden was shaking.

"Holden, you alright?" Kassidy asked.

Even though he was shaking he managed to look at Kassidy. "I've seen things in there… that's going to scar me… for life."

Marina patted Holden on the shoulder. "Well you're okay, we at least didn't get eaten alive." She then looked at Kassidy and Shade and smiled. "I owe you guys one."

"You can thank Kassidy," Shade said. "It was her idea to cover the blowhole."

"You can also thank Shade," Kassidy said. "He covered the blowhole."

"That's great, I really appreciate what you guys did there," Holden said, "but can we get away from the ocean now? I don't want to go inside another orca's mouth."

Holden instantly took off for the forest as fast as he could. Kassidy sighed but she didn't want to yell at Holden and tell him that he was a baby. He, after all, was just inside an orca's mouth and it's not every day that anyone gets stuck inside an orca's mouth. Kassidy, Shade, and Marina then followed Holden into the forest to catch up with him.

* * *

It was horrific to him to even think about. He almost got eaten alive by that orca but if it weren't for Kassidy and Shade, he and Marina would've never gotten out. To him, this journey was already getting suicidal and he didn't know how long it would be until he actually got himself killed. Holden was now getting homesick and he really wanted to get out of this crazy environment and go back to his good life. Holden was hanging on a totem pole upside down with Kassidy, Shade, and Marina. It was Marina's suggestion that they landed on this totem pole and when she did, Holden no longer cared and while they did, Marina didn't hesitate to ask Kassidy how she was glowing that one time and Kassidy told her how she was glowing.

He was scared of what was happening that he so desperately wanted to curl into a ball and hide from everything around him, but even though he was scared he wasn't a coward. When his Mom was around she would always comfort him whenever he got scared and when she did cheer him up he would feel like he could be tougher and stronger and he was right. The fear he was feeling right now was embarrassing as him trying to hunt and he hated that he had to be scared out here and like this right now. Even though he wasn't a child anymore he actually wished he could go back to those moments with his Mom and let her hug him and whisper soft words of comfort to him. But she was no longer around.

He hated his Mom for being an alcoholic and being less caring to him, his Dad, and Lewis. She, in fact, wasn't always like that. He remembered her being a cool Mom and she was always wild and fun. His Mom was a very good dancer and she even taught him how to dance and have fun. Holden looked up to her and he remembered wanting to dance just like her. When he was a kid he would always imagine himself being a famous dancer that as he grew older he would practice and learn all the dance moves he could just so he could get to where he wanted to be. However, as he did grow older his Mom suddenly changed as if she were cursed by someone. She changed from Holden's idol to someone that Holden now despised because of what she did and he never forgave her for it.

His entire childhood he wanted to be like his Mom, but when he saw how fast she changed over the years he couldn't believe that he wanted to be like her. Ever since she left him, his Dad and brother, Holden never wanted to speak to his Mom again. He didn't know why she did what she did but he promised himself that he never wanted to turn into what his Mom had become. But he has been slowly falling in his Mom's footsteps as if he didn't have a choice and went to a lot of parties and dances and not focusing on his school work. He wanted to dance and have fun, but he didn't want to turn into a screw up like his Mom was. He knew though he wasn't trying hard enough to overcome that and he felt ashamed about that.

Kassidy, Shade, and Marina were looking at him. After they landed on the totem pole they were trying to calm him and reassure to him that everything would be fine after Marina asked her question to Kassidy. He wished he could believe that but would it? If he died he would die knowing that he was just the party boy and troublemaker that never got to live a very long lifespan. If he did manage to get home he wanted to change the way things were and for the better.

Holden then looked away from the three of them and a single tear formed and it skimmed down Holden's cheek and he didn't want them to see that. He wiped away the tear and looked at the horizon. He then felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked to see that it was Kassidy touching his shoulder.

"Holden, it's okay that you're scared," Kassidy said calmly. "I know you're not used to any of this but you know you're not isolated. We may not be with the colony or at home but we still got each other."

"I know I just…" Holden paused and he looked down at the ground. "I… I want to go home. I know I mess up a lot and I just… can't take this anymore."

"Mess up?" Shade asked. "What do you mean?"

Holden looked at Shade and Marina and he then sighed as Kassidy took her hand off his shoulder. "Okay, here's my side of the story and Kassidy pretty much knows it."

Holden got on with telling Shade and Marina how he was a popular kid where he was from, how he was a troublemaker and didn't get good grades at school, and how his Mom was an alcoholic, how she and his Dad got a divorce, and how he wanted to change. Telling it was hurtful to him but he managed to pour it all out and Shade and Marina listened without interrupting but their eyes were widened in shock as he kept talking. After he was done he took a breather after talking so much.

Marina smiled weakly at Holden after a moment of silence. "Hey, I know we got off on bad terms but I'm sure things will get better. As long as you want to change I think you'll turn out okay. You've made it this far right? It's a long way but I'm sure you'll make it."

Even though Holden didn't like Marina's attitude in the first place he somehow appreciated Marina being nice to him. "Well… thanks."

Shade then slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead as if he just realized something. "I can't believe I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?" Marina asked Shade confused.

Shade pointed at Marina. "You didn't let me finish what I was saying about the band."

"Oh, that." Marina looked away with her head down.

"Uh-Frieda, our elder, has a band just like yours." Shade said pointing at Marina's band with a smile.

"An elder…banded?" Marina looked at her band as if she couldn't believe what she just heard. She then smiled and looked back at Shade. "Like me?"

"Uh, well maybe not exactly like-"

"And she's old."

"Practically ancient."

The four bats took off and they then made their way to the top of the totem pole and landed. Holden had no idea how old Frieda was but she looked really old. She was very nice to him and he liked that she wasn't too harsh on him, Kassidy, and Shade after they looked at the sun. He also wished he would've thanked Frieda for her kindness but as soon as they got back to the colony he was definitely going to thank her.

"Maybe the band doesn't mean certain death," Marina said.

"Well, the orca didn't get you did it?" Kassidy said. "So it's pretty official that it doesn't mean 'certain death'.

Marina put her finger on her chin. "Maybe it means I'm destined to be an elder too."

Holden thought about it. "Elder Marina." He slowly nodded and then slowly smiled at Marina. "I hate to admit it but it does have a nice ring to it."

Marina looked at all three of the Silverwings one at a time. "When do we leave?"

"I'm sorry, we? As in all four of us?"

Marina looked at Holden. "Yeah, to join your colony so I can meet this Frieda."

Shade looked uncertain about something. "Kassidy, Holden, do you think the colony will actually accept us again? I really don't want to face them…" Shade turned away from them and he looked down sadly. "Not after losing Tree Haven…"

Kassidy walked towards Shade and she put her arm on his shoulder. "Remember what I said, Shade." Shade looked at Kassidy. "Lawbreakers or not they're still our colony no matter what. When we find the colony we'll face them together."

"Right… I know."

Marina got near Kassidy and Shade with a sad expression on her face. "Don't be so hard on yourself Shade. At least your colony didn't banish you, Kassidy, or Holden."

Shade looked at Marina as Kassidy put her arm down from his shoulder. "I just wish you could've seen Tree Haven, Marina. It was the biggest hollow oak ever. With the gnarliest roots and all kinds of chambers and roosts and-"

"Come on."

Marina took off and this earned confused looks from the three Silverwings. They all took off though and followed Marina through the forest. Holden had no idea what this Brightwing was up to. "Hey, island bat, where are you taking us?"

"Just a little further, human bat," Marina said joyfully.

As they flew, Holden then saw something in the distance that made his eyes go wide. He saw a hollow looking tree that looked like it could actually be Tree Haven. It looked very old, gnarly, and it was pretty big. Holden heard Shade and Kassidy being impressed by what they saw and he also heard it come out from himself.

"So what do you guys think?" Marina asked. "It's big, it's hollow, it's gnarly-"

As they got closer to it, Holden saw that there were many holes and without wasting any time, he, Kassidy, and Shade checked out the tree and went through many of its holes as if they were on a playground and were wowing amazed. It was too good to be true. The three of them then got back to Marina and they were smiling. Maybe Marina wasn't as bad as Holden thought she was.

"It's perfect," Shade said. "This could be our new Tree Haven!"

"Hell yeah!" Kassidy shouted.

The four of them then flew to a nearby tree and planted their feet on its tree branch and swung upside-down. Shade looked at Kassidy and Holden. "Guys, we gotta let the colony know about this." He then looked at Marina and smiled. "I guess you'll get to meet Frieda after all."

Marina smiled. "Then it's settled, we'll head for the mainland. Together."

"Hang on," Kassidy said and everyone looked at her confused. "Before we go I need to do something real quick."

"Huh?"

Kassidy looked at Marina. "Trust me on this. We're all going to need it."

Kassidy turned to look at Shade and she lifted her arm towards his head but she didn't touch it. Instead, she slowly lowered her hand down from near his forehead to his chin and as she did, Holden could hear her magic doing its work. Kassidy has been doing this on their journey to him, to Shade, to herself, and even to Ariel. When he asked her why she was doing this spell she said she felt like they were being watched by someone and she didn't want to take any chances on letting anyone see through their vision if they had magic or not. She also said if they did have magic she didn't want them to intervene while they were migrating. He could tell that she had a hard time trusting a lot.

Kassidy then did the same thing to Holden and as she did it, Holden could feel the magic flowing through him and it felt strange to him. He never believed in witches and other people having magic but seeing it was something he never would've thought he would see actually occur in real life. He pretty much thought it was ridiculous that some believed in that stuff and now he believed in it.

Kassidy released her grip from the tree branch and landed at the end of it near Marina so she could do the same thing again. Holden could tell that Marina was finding this very confusing. He didn't blame her and he could see why.

"What're you doing?" Marina asked.

"It's a spell that prevents anyone to see through your vision." She then explained to her why she was doing this and Marina looked a little shocked. "That's why I'm doing this."

Marina looked a little unsure about this but then she nodded. "Well… if that's what you feel then I guess I got no choice."

Kassidy nodded and then did the spell on Marina. After Kassidy did the spell on her, she then did the same thing on herself.

"So, Marina," Holden said and Marina looked at him. "Which way's the mainland?" Marina smiled and pointed and when Holden looked he felt like he was going to be sick. Marina was pointing towards a huge body of the ocean and that's when he realized that they had to fly over it. "Oh…"

* * *

Lurking in the shadows on an island as falcons, the two figures were watching Kassidy, her friends, and another companion that was with them. They've been following them and their colony for some time now and it wasn't hard to stay hidden from them. After they saw that the three were separated from the colony they didn't hesitate to follow them. These sorts of journeys weren't that bad for them considering they've done it many times before in their lifetime.

The male figure already liked how this was playing out for her and those friends of hers. Two of them almost got killed but they were only lucky to be alive if it weren't for Kassidy and that runt. Pretty soon the male figure and his female companion would have more of the fun when the time was right.

* * *

**A/N- Another chapter down, guys. Spoilers: I'll be adding more characters in this story but you'll have to wait and see who they are. Also, I'm now on DeviantArt and my account is FirecrackerWolf, so it's pretty much the same account as this one. That's all I wanted to say and I'll see you guys later.**


	13. On Our Way

**Chapter 13**

**On Our Way**

* * *

In Toronto, Canada in The Hazelton Hotel, Raymond was going through a lot of papers and documents at a desk. He was going through all the people that had magic that got murdered by the culprits he and the Spell Organization were after. The Spell Organization was something that anyone with magic could be in, which meant that whoever was in it is basically like a cop but instead they stop people from using the darkness of magic. The Spell Organization was located on a secret island, and it was hidden away from a lot and only people with magic could come on this island but if there were people that didn't have magic and were willing to keep it a secret because of certain reasons they had to take an oath that they would never tell anyone with no magic about this island. It's been around for centuries and it was very secretive.

Raymond was around his middle ages and he had a silver classic side pushed scissor crop, with a stubble, and amber eyes. He was very fit and healthy and even though he was pretty old he still did his job and he did it the right way. He was wearing a gray shirt with a long-sleeved flannel over it and it was unbuttoned and it had brown and red colors on it. He was also wearing a pair of dark jeans along with brown, laced boots.

The culprits that Raymond and the Spell Organization were after had been wanted for some time now and all the members had been dispatched by the council to different countries to find them. These culprits weren't that easy to find and they had no evidence as to where they could start looking. Raymond was sent to Canada with his partners, Sylvester and Stella to find the culprits and they were trying to find some hint as to where they could be hiding. Every day and night they would go to different towns and cities in Canada and they would also listen to the news to see if that would give them a clue. They haven't reported anything to the council yet and they've heard that neither of the other members had anything to report as well. The culprits were hard to find but they were also very dangerous.

It was somewhere around seven to eight that Raymond was still looking through all the papers and documents. He focused on what he could find and all he found out was that these victims were murdered and they all either had their necks broken, their throats slit, their body parts punctured, or they simply got shot in certain places. There were no signs or traces of fingerprints whatsoever. Raymond knew this was getting out of control.

He rubbed his eyes from looking at the papers and documents and even though he felt tired he didn't want to stop looking. No one in the Spell Organization had any idea what these culprits were planning on doing but they wanted to bring them to justice. Once they had them they were going to lock them away for a very long time.

Raymond turned around to look at Sylvester and he was sitting on his haunches on Stella's bed watching the news. There were two beds in the room and he chose the bed that was closest to the TV. Sylvester was a black American short-haired cat with green eyes. Sylvester was around his middle ages as well but he was much younger than Raymond. He was focusing on catching any news that was a clue to finding the culprits and Raymond didn't even think he moved an inch or even blinked his eyes.

"Anything yet, Sylvester?" Raymond asked.

Sylvester turned his head to look at Raymond and he shook his head. "Still nothing."

Raymond sighed and then looked back at the papers and documents. "How in spells name can these culprits be this hard to find? Where on earth could they possibly be by now?"

"Hard to tell, they could pretty much be anywhere by now. They've pretty much been to every place on this planet: Italy, Paris, London, Tokyo, you name it."

"Yeah, but they can't keep hiding for long. They'll eventually have to be found one way or another and right now no one is safe from them."

The front door then opened and closed and walking in from the hallway with a bag of food in her hand was Stella. Stella had a brunette bob with bangs and had hazel eyes. She was wearing a long tan coat that had dark brown buttons on it and a belt, along with a dark green turtle neck shirt, with a pair of jeans, and brown boots. Stella was a teenager and even though she was she had what it took to be a member of the Spell Organization.

She was also wearing a necklace like Raymond and while they both had round pendants, Raymond's was a purple color while Stella's was white as a cotton ball. Sylvester didn't have one because transforming into a different type of animal would only be difficult for him like other animals that have magic because trying to adapt into other animals would take a lot of time to figure out, unlike humans. Plus even if he did have one he would prefer his normal form.

"I got the food from Subway," Stella walked towards Raymond. "And before you ask, no, I didn't find anything." Stella looked through the bag and dug for Raymond's sub and as soon as she found the right one she gave it to Raymond. "Just like you wanted it." She then looked at Sylvester. "And I also got your plain old ham and turkey." Stella walked over to the bed Sylvester was on and sat on it and got the wrapped up ham and turkey from the bag and placed it next to Sylvester.

Sylvester looked at Stella. "Thanks." Sylvester looked back at the TV as Stella got out her sub that was wrapped up.

Raymond was about to unwrap his sub but he then heard the news reporter on TV and that got his attention. "Almost a week has passed and in recent news, the Kimler family has been reported missing along with a teenage boy by the name Holden Brooks," the female reporter said. "Police have been investigating the Kimler house and have found the inside of it to be damaged but they have found no sign of fingerprints or anything else whatsoever."

Sylvester looked at Raymond quickly with his eyes widened. "Raymond, I think we got something, you gotta look at this."

Raymond stood up and went to look at the TV and he saw the inside of the house and it looked disastrous with a lot of things broken or smashed. It was then cut to a couple of police officers at the front door talking to a man and a teenaged boy.

"The police have confirmed that they have been kidnapped and they have gone to question Holden's Father and brother and they have said that Holden left the house with Kassidy Kimler-who emigrated from America to Canada-so he could get some work done from school and they haven't seen him since," the female reporter continued. "The police have also found a jeep that was destroyed." It then cut to some police surrounding the jeep along with some people with cameras either recording or taking pictures and there was yellow tape surrounding the jeep that said police line do not cross. "They say it may belong to Kassidy's, although there is nothing of hers or Holden's in it and whether or not the jeep does belong to Kassidy, the police are doing all they can to-" before the news reporter can say anything else, Raymond got the remote and turned off the TV.

Raymond then looked at Sylvester and Stella. "Does that ring a bell to you two, Kimler?"

Sylvester and Stella looked at each other wide eyed and then back to Raymond. "I recognize that name," Stella said. "That family has magic that runs in the family… and since it does that means…"

"It means they must've been the next target," Raymond said not wanting to finish it off.

Raymond didn't feel hungry anymore. How could he possibly think about food now when lives were at stake here?

"Now it's strange though," Sylvester said with confusion in his eyes. "Whenever those culprits are involved they will usually kill their victims, but this time this family has disappeared and there were no dead bodies shown. What is it that they're trying to do?"

"I don't know," Raymond said unsure of this whole situation. "But this might be our only chance to find those culprits if we go to that house. I highly doubt we'll find that jeep but I'm sure we can find that house. We need to search all that we can find on it and if there's a possible chance any of the Kimlers are alive, they'll need our help."

Stella stood up and knelt on the floor and looked under her bed and then what she pulled out next was her laptop. She sat back on her bed and looked at Raymond. "You can count on me. I'm much faster at finding these sorts of things. If I'm going to do this though I'm going to need some coffee so I don't fall asleep."

"Alright, you search and I'll go get coffee."

"Shouldn't we tell the council about this?" Sylvester asked as Stella was logging into her laptop. "They might want to hear about this."

Raymond went to get his jacket on his bed and he put it on. "Once we find the house and try to gather all the information we need we'll tell the council. Right now we need to focus on finding that house. While I'm gone, Sylvester, watch for anything strange from near the window. For one night in my life, I would like it if no other people with magic got hurt."

Without waiting for a response, Raymond walked out the door.

* * *

Many wing beats away, the three Silverwings and the Brightwing were flying over the ocean. Kassidy was once again upfront flying with Marina while the boys were flying in the back. It wasn't that either of the boys wanted to be upfront with Marina, it was their flying that was keeping them in the back. For some time now they've been flying over the ocean and Kassidy could tell that the boys were struggling. She didn't bother to ask them if they were alright because she knew what their answer would be but sometimes she would look behind her to see how they were doing.

Since yesterday her arms and wings were still sore, but she had worse than this. Whenever she goes to the gym for a workout she would always be sore from working out so hard from the weights, dumbbells, and anything like that. Not that she would complain, far from it.

"I never thought I'd leave that island," Marina said. Kassidy looked at Marina and she had a warm smile on her face. She could tell she looked relieved of getting off that island after being on there so long. She was finally able to go somewhere else. Marina then looked behind her. "You do remember what an island is, right Shade? Body of land, surrounded by water."

Kassidy could hear Holden and Shade panting as they were trying to keep up with her and Marina. To all respect though, they were doing a better job of not falling way far behind like last time. Kassidy looked at the boys and she tried to smile the best she could. "Keep it up guys," Kassidy said enthusiastically. "You're doing great."

Marina looked at Kassidy and she whispered: "For a couple of Silverwings."

"Hey, I heard that," Holden shouted towards Marina.

Marina looked at Holden. "You should focus more on trying not to fall from the sky rather than talking like a douche you are."

Holden rolled his eyes. "Real mature-" Holden panted more before continuing what he said, "and don't worry about me… I'm enjoying this. Really."

Marina looked away from Holden. "Whatever you say, human bat, but all I can say to you is, is that you should at least be grateful that you don't have stubby wings like Shade's."

Shade's ears shot up indignantly as he panted. "My wings aren't stubby!"

Marina looked at Shade. "Well, they're certainly not as long as mine," Marina said, flaring them briefly. Kassidy had to admit, they were pretty long and narrow. "It's a simple fact. The longer the wings, the faster you fly."

Shade narrowed his eyes. "Mine may be a little shorter," Shade said as he was panting, "but they're broader too, and that means I'm more flexible in flight. Kass even said I have a lot of advantages because of my size."

Kassidy was glad Shade remembered her telling him that and even though she was she felt that the bickering between the three of them was getting a little out of hand. Maybe a lot out of hand. She sighed irritated.

"Interesting," Marina said. "But up here on the high seas, speed's the name of the game, my little friend. And in that department, I've got the edge."

"Okay, guys," Kassidy said and the three of them looked at her. "I'm about this close of making one of you drink that seawater and unless you don't want me to do that then you should all be nice to each other and trust me when I say this. You don't wanna go there. Plus the sun's going to be up soon and we need to keep moving."

The three of them had their eyes widened, but then Marina smiled at Kassidy. "Huh, I guess you got a dark side to yourself."

Kassidy looked at Marina. "Can you blame me?"

"Well thanks for the update," Holden scoffed. "I feel motivated by that speech."

Kassidy looked at Holden and furrowed her brow. "Holden, I swear to god I'm not kidding. I'll even do it right now if I have to."

Then up high in the sky, Kassidy heard squawking. She looked up to the dark clouds and coming down from them was a single gull. The gull flew near them and it was laughing. Kassidy grunted at the sight of that gull. Even though she loved animals she wasn't one to have a gull as her favorite animal. Every time she would go to the beach she would hear the same squawking and it drove her nuts. The way Kassidy saw the gull was laughing was like looking at a drunken person after they had a few too many drinks and was trying to be funny.

Kassidy breathed in the salty air and tried to remain calm and then she breathed out. _It's just a gull. It's just a gull._

"What's so funny?" Shade asked the gull scornfully.

The gull looked at Shade. "You guys are working way too hard!" The gull continued to laugh.

"Piss off, weirdo," Holden shouted towards the gull.

The gull continued to laugh and then flew back up high into the sky. Kassidy didn't blame Holden for shouting at the gull. She would've done the same thing but she knew better than to let her anger get out of control at a time like this.

Marina used her echo vision towards the sky and then after a few seconds she flew up to where that gull flew up and Kassidy looked at her confused as the boys continued to pant. Marina then disappeared into the clouds. She wondered what Marina was up to.

"Hey, guys," Marina shouted down from high in the sky. "Up here!"

The three Silverwings looked at each other and then they lifted up high into the sky to where Marina was and Holden struggled a little but he managed. They were then high over some clouds and that's when Kassidy got annoyed when she saw more gulls and she cursed in her head as she heard them laughing like they were crazy. Without wasting any time, the three of them kept flying to catch up to Marina. Kassidy could tell that the boys were getting annoyed with the gulls like she was.

She could feel her blood boiling and the fire creep through her and before the fire could get anywhere near as to erupt all over her body, Kassidy quickly did the same breathing technique and the same process. Kassidy hated doing this but she had to do this or things would get really crazy.

Shade looked at Marina with his brow furrowed. "You brought us up here to watch feeble bird tricks?"

Holden was looking at a gull that was staring at him and Holden looked mad. "What the hell are you looking at, bird brain?"

Without responding, the gull glided away from them.

Kassidy looked at the boys. "Will you two calm down? As much as I don't like this, Marina must've brought us up here for a good reason."

"Kass is right," Marina said. "Now just hold out your wings."

Marina stopped flying and instead let the wind do the rest of the work and she was miraculously gliding like those gulls were. Kassidy took note of what Marina did and made sure she did the same thing. She stopped flying and she made sure to spread her wings wide and as soon as she did she was gliding like Marina was. Kassidy sighed in relief as she could relax her aching muscles.

She then looked at the boys. "Guys, come on. It's very easy. Just do what we're doing."

The boys looked at each other unsure and were a little hesitant but they did what Kassidy and Marina were doing and they almost fell all the way down but they regained their flight and Shade spread opened his wings all the way out and managed to glide. Shade smiled with delight. "Oh, wow!" Shade laughed and he looked at Kassidy. "You're right, this is easier!"

Holden grunted annoyed and he tried again and he almost fell all the way down again but luckily he regained his flight again and as soon as he did, he did what the others did and he was gliding. Holden's eyes were widened in surprise but he then smiled. "Holy crap, this is awesome! I can't believe how much easier this is!" Holden looked at Marina. "You certainly have your way around things."

Marina smiled at Holden. "Yeah, it was pretty clever of me."

Holden's smile turned into a sarcastic one. "So, you say you got an edge when it comes to the high seas. I bet I can beat you in a race."

"Ha! I've flown more than you have and I bet you that my more experienced flying can beat you in a race."

"Speak for yourselves," Shade said. "I bet I can beat you guys in a race and even though I'm short I feel confident in winning."

Kassidy smiled at the three of them. "Say what you wish, but I think I can beat all of you with my flight. I'll be so far ahead that none of you will see me winning."

"Well, we'll just see who wins then. Wanna race?"

"You're on," Marina said.

"You guys are so going down," Holden said.

"In your dreams," Kassidy said.

"Okay," Shade said and all of them looked forward and were ready for some wild action. "One… two-"

"Three!" Holden took off and glided ahead of the three and they looked at him with their eyes widened.

"Hey," Marina shouted towards Holden.

"Hey, no fair Holden," Shade shouted towards Holden.

Holden laughed and he looked back at the three. "Last one to finish has to eat some grass!"

Kassidy smiled and was ready to race. "That ain't going to be me!"

The three of them glided after Holden and they raced and as they did they laughed and smiled wide. Kassidy's smile was so big that she began to glow and as she did, Holden saw it and he squinted and as he did, Kassidy glided fast passed him. They continued to race until they were out of energy.

* * *

"Will you move it?" Goth was getting impatient with how much time was being wasted. He and Throbb were crawling through tunnels for a while on metal surfaces and he regretted not going first, seeing as though he was much faster than Throbb was. "In the name of Zotz, do you want your freedom or not?"

Throbb had his ears down as he continued to crawl. "Sorry, Goth."

"You want my forgiveness? Move faster and maybe I'll forgive you, so move it!"

Throbb picked up his pace and he and Goth continued their search for some sort of entrance to get out through. They were using their scents of smell and hearing and Goth hoped to catch any familiar scents of the jungle but there was no trace of it. _Never mind that,_ he thought and continued to crawl.

As they were crawling, Goth's ears tilted forward when he heard a sound. It sounded fast, and there was deliberate chopping and it sounded very loud. It wasn't anything like Goth had ever heard in his life and he didn't like the sound of it.

As they rounded a corner, Goth could feel the air blast in his face-even when Throbb was in front of him-and it made him squint his eyes. Throbb stopped in his tracks and Goth narrowed his eyes and wondered what could possibly be stopping Throbb right now from crawling any further? He looked over Throbb's shoulder and his eyes widened at what he saw. At the end of the tunnel, beyond a mesh screen, was a huge twisted blade spinning. It was big and huge enough to even injure someone, including them.

"What is that?" Throbb asked.

Goth looked at Throbb and so badly wished he could kill him right now. "Do you think I know everything about humans? It's some kind of trap to keep us inside."

"It'll cut us to pieces!"

Goth ignored him and instead shifted his focus back on the spinning blade. Beyond that blade was the night and he wouldn't miss his chance of getting out of here, seeing as though this was their only option. He would not let some human-machine stand in his way. He focused on the revolving blade, listening carefully. The metal mesh was not finely woven; they could get past that with their wings closed. But the blade… It spun in a circle at the end of the square tunnel, leaving a small crescent of free space in each of the four corners. Goth quickly measured the distance in his mind.

"Squeeze through," he told Throbb.

Throbb looked at Goth like he was crazy. "What?"

"In the lower corner, you can squeeze through. The blade won't hit you." He absolutely wasn't sure of this, which was why he wanted Throbb to go first.

"Maybe there's another way out." Throbb smiled nervously and Goth just scowled at him. "I mean maybe there's a safer way we can-"

Goth shoved his bared teeth in Throbb's face and Throbb looked at him nervously. "You'll do what I say," he hissed. "Or by my god damn bloody soul, I will kill you right here on the spot."

Goth put his claws near Throbb's face and Throbb gulped. Of course, Goth was only lying but he knew Throbb was afraid of him so it wasn't hard to make him do things. Without saying a word, Throbb slunk down the tunnel. Wings squeezed tight against his shaking body, he neared the mesh screen. He pushed halfway through, and came to a sudden stop, staring at the whirling blade as if he was forced to watch it for hours.

"It's too fast," he called back over his shoulder. "It's going to suck me in."

Goth growled. "Do it!"

"I can't."

Goth darted forward and bit Throbb's leg and Throbb yelped, causing him to lunge forward. Goth listened as the huge blade cut swiftly through the air. Throbb cried out in terror as the tip sang past him, slicing a patch of fur from his shoulder. But he was through.

Goth's heart leaped. He hurried forward, squeezed through the mesh, and let out all his breath. The blade was so fast it created a whirlwind effect. He stiffened against its pull, listening to the blade in his mind's eye.

He sprang forward and as he did the blade's passage was like a thunderclap, blinding him in one ear and he then landed on all fours. He made it through unharmed and he was suddenly outside.

Goth stood up and he dusted his forearms. "Uh, Goth?" Goth sighed annoyed and he looked at Throbb and Throbb was looking around him confused. "Where's the jungle?"

Goth looked around and as he did his heart started to pound wildly as he could see clearly that there was no sign of the jungle. Instead what lay before them was a galaxy of bright lights spread out dizzyingly before him, steep canyons and deep glowing rivers of sound. Huge stacks of stone and light towered all around them. Goth rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating and then looked again, but no, he wasn't. It was all real. He expected the jungle to greet him, the familiar sights and smell of dense rain forest, the sound of his colony, but instead, he was greeted with unfamiliar territory.

This landscape was beyond anything he's ever seen in his life. The noise from below was almost overwhelming, making his vision blur and pulse. He could only make out a haze of movement.

In a panic, he gazed up at the stars. He did not recognize a single one. They were all different. And where was the moon? Goth lifted into the air and he spiraled high, hoping he would see the jungle on the endless horizon. But the lights spread on endlessly. He could not even see the glow of the sun. That would at least have given him a sense of direction. _Maybe,_ he thought in panic, _there's no sun here, no west or east, north, or south._

"Where are we?" Wailed Throbb, from down below on the stone he was on.

But all at once the moon appeared from behind a bank of clouds and Goth's heart surged with relief. This was something he recognized, with all its familiar bumps and creases. Goth then flew back down and landed near Throbb. "The humans must have taken us out of the jungle," he told Throbb. "They've taken us north." He'd heard so many stories, terrible stories.

Goth then felt the wind, but it wasn't a warm breeze. Instead, it felt bitterly cold against him and he felt himself shiver and Throbb was shivering as well. Goth covered himself up with his wings and as did Throbb and they shivered violently as another gust of cold wind blew in their direction. The jungle was never this cold. His hatred for the humans could only double as he growled at the coldness.

"It's so… cold," Throbb said shivering. "Maybe we should go back inside."

"What?" hissed Goth in disgust. "To our prison?"

"It's warm at least…"

"No, I'm going back to the jungle. Go back in there if you wish, but I'm going back to the jungle with or without you."

"But it's free-"

"Shut up!" snapped Goth.

He looked around him and he knew he needed a plan if he was ever to return home again. But if he was to return home he needed more food. Food to keep him warm. He took off-not caring if Throbb followed or not-and then he cast his powerful sonic eye over the peaks of the city. The echo brought him back an image of birds roosting on the ledge of a high square tower. Pigeons. Plenty of meat on them.

He flexed his claws and plunged.

* * *

**A/N- Yes! I finally got this chapter in and I know it's been like a couple of weeks but I finally got this chapter done. Like I always say, the reason why I won't be posting a lot is because of either school or basketball, but I promise to keep posting these chapters.**

**So those are the new characters, Raymond, Sylvester, and Stella and they'll be important throughout the story. I'll be honest right now, I think I'm going to be having a lot of chapters in this story but I hope that won't be a problem. Plus I do love writing. Well, that's all I wanted to say and the next chapter will be out soon.**


	14. The Big City

**Chapter 14**

**The Big City**

* * *

_Everything went by fast._

_Her heartbeats were fast as she watched as her Dad was trying to stop the car, but it didn't stop._

_It kept going._

_Kassidy and her parents were going down a hill at a very fast speed and Kassidy was breathing somewhat fast as she saw they were approaching a traffic light. She could only focus her attention straight ahead and didn't pay attention to what her parents were saying or how they were reacting. She then saw that the traffic light turned red and she then saw a huge truck driving forward as they went forward fast and before she could react, everything blacked out._

* * *

Kassidy gasped awake, breathing hard. As usual, she was sweating from these sorts of dreams and had to wipe the sweat off her face with her arm. After she wiped the sweat off her, she rubbed her eyes and she growled silently to herself. _Damn it, why does that dream keep coming back to me as it pleases?_

"Kass, you alright?"

Kassidy looked up from rubbing her eyes to look next to her to see that Marina was awake and she had a concern in her eyes. After they had their race with the boys they all roosted in a cave that was next to a beach and they were all worn out from the flying. As soon as they got themselves comfortable in here they immediately fell asleep.

Kassidy nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a daymare."

She then felt stinging on her shoulder. She looked at her shoulder and the burn was still on her. Yesterday she felt her burnt shoulder as they were flying but she didn't want her friends to worry about it, she was even lucky to not get a third-degree burn or worse. As soon as they found a roost, Kassidy took it upon herself to treat her injury by putting some water on it so it would cool down. She did try to find some aloe vera but there weren't any of them insight no matter how hard she looked. These sorts of burns usually lasted about two to three weeks so she didn't have to worry about it, considering it wasn't anything too serious. Taking care of her injury though would make the process much easier.

Marina looked at Shade. "We should get these two sleepyheads awake. We need to keep moving."

Kassidy stretched out her wings and yawned. "Couldn't agree more." She then heard snoring and she looked next to her and roosting a couple of feet away from Kassidy was Holden in a deep sleep and he had drool coming out of his mouth. Kassidy rolled her eyes while smirking. "I got this one."

Marina nodded and she went to go wake up Shade while Kassidy went to go wake up Holden. Kassidy landed next to Holden and when she did she looked at Marina and she was on a stalagmite near Shade. "Hey, Shade."

Shade murmured and he still had his eyes closed, even when Marina tapped his shoulder annoyed. She then looked at Kassidy and she smiled and Kassidy knew what she was about to do. Marina pushed Shade and when she did, Shade jerked awake.

"Hey," Shade grumbled to himself as he looked at Marina annoyed and Kassidy snorted. "What did you do that for?"

Marina shrugged her shoulders and she looked at him as if she didn't know what he was talking about. "Do what? You startled yourself awake."

"Come on, Shade," Kassidy said. "Now would be a good time to get situated here."

Shade stretched his wings out. "Okay," he then flew off the ceiling and landed near a stalagmite. "I'm up."

"Not all of us."

Kassidy looked at Holden and he was still asleep. She had the best idea to get him awake. She stuck her finger in her mouth to get some saliva on there and as soon as she had enough on it she stuck her finger in Holden's ear and gave him a wet willie. Holden moved a little as he scrunched his eyes confused. As he moved his hand to his ear, Kassidy got her finger out of his ear and tried to hold in her laughter. As Holden got his hand to his ear he started to feel it.

"What the hell?" Holden then all the sudden jerked awake and he cussed and then he all the sudden fell from the ceiling and hit the ground and as soon as he did, Kassidy, Marina, and even Shade started to laugh. Holden cried out disgusted as he was wiping his ear. He then looked up at Kassidy with a scowl. "You're sick, Kass!"

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "Then you should've woken up earlier."

Holden wiped his ear more. "I swear to god I think I'm going to have to keep one eye opened from now on."

Marina crossed her arms and she rolled her eyes as she still had a smirk on her face. "Have fun with that the next time you sleep." She, Kassidy, and Holden then flew to the stalagmite Shade was on and landed. "Okay, one of you call up your sound map and check your colony's migration route."

Kassidy breathed through her nose as she crossed her arms. "I wish I could, but someone in this very group here suggested that neither I nor he needed the sound map for the migration."

Kassidy narrowed her eyes at Holden and he had his hands up. "Okay, I didn't think we'd get ourselves stuck in a tight situation and get separated from the colony."

"That's the thing though, you barely think of anything. You always talk more rather than think more."

Holden crossed his arms and he narrowed his eyes. "Name me one time I talked more rather than think more."

"Oh, gee, I don't know," Kassidy said scornfully. "Maybe when you were talking to Chinook and his two little sidekicks about your dad and your life."

Shade cleared his throat to get Kassidy and Holden's attention and they looked at him. "I don't wanna be rude here, but I think we should focus on getting to the colony."

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other and then they looked back at Shade. Kassidy then sighed. "You're right, the colony is much more important than us bickering. The good news is, is that you have the sound map."

"Great, then call up your sound map, Shade," Marina said.

Shade looked at Marina with an uncomfortable expression on him. "I've never actually called up the sound map."

Marina laughed. "Yeah, right, quit playing games." Shade didn't change his expression and Marina looked at Kassidy and Holden and wasn't finding this funny now. "Tell me he's joking on my wing."

Holden looked at Kassidy and she could tell that he didn't know what to say. Kassidy sighed and decided to take it upon herself to answer her. "It's not a joke, Marina. He's never actually called it up before."

Marina looked at Shade with her eyes widened and he was smiling nervously at her. "Surprise?"

Marina scowled. "Holy sunlight, guys! Now you're telling me this?"

"Hey, I didn't know about this either until now," Holden said.

"Guys, its Shade's first time migrating," Kassidy said. "As much as this all sounds bat shit crazy, we still need to figure out the migration route."

"Yeah, it's my first time migrating," Shade said. "Besides it never came up before."

Holden slapped his palm against his face. "Great, so now how are we going to figure out the route, shake the map out of him?"

Marina breathed calmly as she looked at Holden. "There's a way to call up sound maps, Holden. It just takes concentration like taking your first flight." Marina looked back at Shade. "Alright, Shade, close your eyes and try to remember what your Mother's saying to you."

Shade closed his eyes and put his claws on his temples. They watched as Shade was concentrating on the sound map and as he did he was groaning and from the looks of it, Kassidy could tell that Shade wasn't liking what was happening. He then all the sudden opened his eyes very wide and he yelped. He then shook his head and looked at everyone. "Overload, I can't process it all."

Holden looked at Marina. "I got a better idea, why don't we just use your sound map?"

"Genius idea, Holden," Marina scoffed. "If we want to find my colony." She then put her palm on her forehead and grunted.

Kassidy put her hand on Shade's shoulder calmly and Shade looked at her. "It's alright, Shade, just try again. We don't have to see the whole map; we just need the first part of it."

Kassidy then put her hand down from his shoulder and as soon as she did, Shade closed his eyes and put his claws on his temples again and concentrated on pulling up the sound map. "I… see a human city nearby."

Kassidy, Holden, and Marina looked at each other and they all knew what they were thinking. The big city.

"We'll start there," Marina blurted out and she was about to take off as Shade opened his eyes.

"Hang on, Marina," Kassidy said and everyone looked at her. "Aren't you forgetting something? I still need to do that sight-seeing spell on all you guys."

Shade sighed. "Kass, maybe it wouldn't hurt if you didn't do that spell for one day. I mean what's the worst that can happen?"

"I really don't like that-"

"Come on, Kass. One day won't hurt anybody, just one day and then you can keep doing that spell as long as you want."

Kassidy thought about it but she wasn't too sure that it would be a good idea. What if someone really was trying to see through their sight to see what was going on? Although maybe it wouldn't hurt if she didn't do it for once… no, it wasn't a good idea.

But then Kassidy thought of something and looked at everyone. "How about this: for half a day I won't use that spell on you guys but when half the day is up I will do that spell, deal?"

"That-"

"Sounds fair enough for me," Marina said interrupting Shade.

Shade looked at Marina with his eyes narrowed. "Hey!"

"Eh, I don't care," Holden said. "As long as we get to the colony without losing any of our body parts then I'm all in for it."

Kassidy smirked and looked at Holden. "Then big city, here we come."

* * *

"Okay, I spy with my little eye something white."

Holden was trying to pass the time with a game to keep them preoccupied while migrating to the city and Kassidy was fine with it but she wanted to focus on finding the city. She wanted to get there as soon as possible and hopefully be able to meet up with the colony. Even though she wanted to find the city she still played the game with her friends.

"Easy, it's the stars," Marina said. "You're making things way too easy, Holden."

Holden sighed. "And once again you guessed correctly."

"Alright, Shade's turn."

"Okay," Shade began to look around him for something that could be tricky for all three of them to guess and as he did he used his sound vision. After a minute of silence, he gasped and then he smiled. "Guys, I spy something nocturnal."

Kassidy then began to hear something. It sounded like the flutter of wings, it wasn't one set though. It was many. Kassidy used her echo vision to where the sounds were coming from and it came back with a colony. Her eyes then lit up and she smiled as she could see hundreds of bats shimmering across the tree line.

"It's a colony," Kassidy said as Holden and Marina used their sound of web to where Kassidy and Shade saw the colony and they smiled as well. "Is it the Silverwings?"

"I think it's them," Shade said. "It must be!"

"I hope they like me," said Marina. "How should I introduce myself? Hi, I'm a friend of the bats who got your roost burned down."

"Or you can just say hi," Holden said.

Shade laughed aloud with delight as he put on a burst of speed. "Come on!" Kassidy, Holden, and Marina followed Shade and they all tried to catch up to the colony. "Hey! Hello! It's me, Shade!"

Three bats toward the rear banked and looked back. Kassidy furrowed her brow and she used her echo vision on them and when she saw what they looked like she immediately knew that it wasn't the Silverwings. Yes, the wings were the right shape, but the bodies were a little large. They were luxuriously furred, with handsome sideburns on their faces. Plus she didn't even recognize those three bats.

"It's not them," Kassidy sighed.

"No," Shade breathed in disappointment as they drew closer.

Holden looked at them confused. "What are they then?"

"From the looks of it, I'd say they're Graywings," Marina said.

One of the Graywings from the trio that stopped flew closer to the friends as they stopped in midair. As soon as he got close enough he stopped in midair as well. "Where are you four headed?"

"We're looking for the Silverwing colony," Shade said. "Have you seen them?"

"We came in from the northwest. We saw a few other colonies, but not the Silverwings. Which way were they headed?"

"South down the coast, toward a city."

"Probably not far ahead of us, then. You get lost?"

"Two nights ago, in a storm."

"Bad luck. Well, I don't envy you, going into the city."

"What do you mean by that?" Holden asked.

The Graywing looked at Holden. "It's not a good place for bats." He then looked back at Shade. "Look, we're going around the city, but we'll continue south after that. You're free to come with us for a while if you like."

Kassidy saw up ahead, mothers and fathers flying with their children, veering off quickly to catch food as they went. She and Marina glanced at each other. Travelling with another colony. Would that make things complicated if they did travel with them? Kassidy couldn't comprehend what might happen.

All at once the Graywing veered away from them, staring at Marina's band. "She's banded," he hissed.

"So?" Holden said.

The Graywing looked at Holden and he shook his head and then he narrowed his eyes. "Are you for real blind?" He circled from a distance. "It's bad luck, very bad luck. She's been touched by humans. Didn't your mother teach you anything?"

"As a matter of fact, she did teach me something. She taught me how to dance for a while until she started to drink a lot."

The Graywing stared at him confused.

Kassidy furrowed her brow at the Graywing as she could tell that Marina looked sorry for not hiding her band. How dare he accuse Marina like that? Didn't his mother teach him anything? She didn't think the Graywing noticed her nor did she care. She pushed aside Shade and Holden and kept staring at the Graywing with her brow furrowed and she wanted to make sure she didn't get out of control here.

"Don't talk about my friend like that. You have no idea what she's been through and how could you possibly be like that towards her? Her band is not cursed and there is nothing bad about it."

The Graywing looked at Kassidy with his jaw dropped as he looked at Kassidy. He had fear in his eyes as he kept looking at Kassidy and as he did, his two companions joined him and they were looking at her shocked as well. She didn't like this one bit.

One of the Graywings being shorter than the other two looked at his companions. "Night and stars, she looks like a demon…"

"A foul creature," The tallest Graywing said.

The one Graywing that was talking to them looked back at Shade. "Are you out of your mind having some twisted bat with you? She does not look normal."

Shade furrowed his brow. "She's our friend and she's neither a demon nor a foul creature. Not everyone has to look normal."

"Normal or not, Silverwing, those two are not welcome to travel with us." Kassidy bared her teeth angrily at the Graywing and that got his attention and he looked nervous. She then felt the flame and she immediately did the same process as usual before it got any worse. The Graywings looked at each other and then the one talking continued. "However, you and your friend here may come with us."

Kassidy and Marina glanced at each other and then looked back at the boys and they saw that they were looking at each other and then at the Graywings that were flying in the distance. Shade looked back at the trio of Graywings and furrowed his brow again. "If they can't come, I'm not coming either. They're both our friends."

Marina looked at Shade surprised as Kassidy looked a little surprised, kind of knowing that Shade would choose his friends over leaving them. She smiled on the inside.

"Same here, man," Holden said. "And FYI: I think you all need better hobbies."

The three Graywings furrowed their brows at Holden. "Suit yourself," the one Graywing talking to them said. "But I'd watch out for them if I were you." The Graywing then looked at Kassidy. "Especially her."

Kassidy furrowed her brow and as she did, the Graywings got tense and then darted back to their colony without another word. Then on cue from their elder, they swung inland, away from the water, away from them. "Assholes," Kassidy muttered.

Shade looked at Kassidy. "Hey, don't worry about them. They don't know what they're talking about."

"I know that…"

Marina sighed disappointedly. "Sorry… I forgot to cover the band. I thought they were yours."

"It doesn't matter," Shade said. "They wouldn't have let you come along anyways if they found out about your band."

"I don't get some of these animals," Holden said as he then looked at Kassidy. "You've been getting a lot of criticism lately from some of them. Is there a particular reason maybe you have what you have on right now?"

Kassidy furrowed her brow at Holden. "Are you now having doubts about me?"

"What? No! I'm just asking if-"

"Maybe you should've gone with them," Kassidy said tersely.

"That's not what I mean."

"Nothing's stopping you."

"I'm not leaving-"

"You think I need anyone's company? I'm basically your average lone wolf you see every single day! I'm used to being alone!" Kassidy's eyes were hard as she stared at Holden and her friends looked at her shocked. Kassidy tried to calm down and didn't want the flame to burst. She breathed… and breathed… and breathed. She then sighed looking down. "I'm sorry…"

That was too close of a call for her. Controlling her anger was now getting harder than she realized. She couldn't believe she said that Holden should've gone with them. What was she talking about? Of course, he needed to stay with them, she said she would transform Holden back into a human and they had a deal and she wasn't going to break that deal.

"No… I'm sorry," Holden said and Kassidy looked at him surprised. "I shouldn't have said that."

Shade flew in between Kassidy and Holden and tried to smile. "Hey, we're all in this together. So let's continue on and find my colony and forget about this."

Marina smiled as well. "Yeah, and besides who needs those Graywings anyways? We got a colony to search for."

Kassidy and Holden smiled. "Then let's keep going," Kassidy said.

The four of them continued on their way to the city. Marina then looked at Shade. "Sorry, they weren't your colony."

"Yeah," Shade said.

"Catching up to the colony can't be that be difficult can it?" Holden said. "I mean the map seems like it's doing the job."

Shade smiled gratefully at Holden and then they continued to their destination. Then after a couple of minutes, Kassidy could see a ghostly brightening on the horizon, as if the sun were about to rise. Only she knew this wasn't the sun.

Kassidy smiled as they approached closer. "Lady and gentlemen, we're now officially arriving in the city."

* * *

The city was much bigger than Kassidy could've realized. Never had she ever been in the city and the lights were so bright that Kassidy had to scrunch her eyes a little. It'd been a while since she last looked at light of any sort-even though she looked at the sun with the boys. It was exactly how Kassidy pictured it: bright and noisy. Cars were honking in all the streets and this was way different from how she was used to the cars in Ohio. She's always wanted to visit the city but not live in it. She was more of the country girl than the city girl.

She breathed in the city air and this definitely made her miss the countryside.

As Kassidy and her friends were flying, Kassidy took the time to look at herself on the building windows. Everything looked fine, apart from the burn on her shoulder. She noticed that the boys were looking at the building windows as well and she saw that Holden and Shade looked amazed by what they were seeing. Marina smiled at them as they were looking around.

"This is so cool," Shade said.

"Apart from the brightness and the noises, I'd say this was worth coming here," Holden said.

"As much as this is cool guys we still need to focus on finding that tower," Kassidy said.

Shade told them on their way to the city that their next landmark had something to do with a tower and a metal cross. He also said he heard bonging. Kassidy hoped that they would find the right one. She also hoped she made a good decision on not using her spell on her friends right away like she originally planned to.

"Agreed," Marina said.

They continued to fly for a while searching for a tower and as they flew, Kassidy could feel the burn on her shoulder kick in more and she hissed silently. She didn't want it to distract her flying and she kept on focusing. She kept telling herself to focus and not let the pain get to her. Whenever she had an injury during anything she sucked it up and wouldn't cry like a baby would when they got a small injury.

"Hey," Kassidy looked to see that Holden was looking at her concerned, "how's that burnt shoulder?"

Kassidy smirked at Holden not wanting him to worry. "It's fine, don't worry about me. I'm used to a lot of injuries at this point. Besides no pain no gain right?"

Holden chuckled. "Right."

Kassidy then noticed something and she looked closely and there was no doubt about it. She saw a tower that looked like it fit the description Shade said. "Guys, I think I see the tower!"

The four friends made their way to the tower Kassidy mentioned and as soon as they got close enough to it they all landed on some wooden slats nailed haphazardly across a gabled window. From what Kassidy could tell, this was a clock tower and it was almost ten o' clock. Kassidy then began spitting in her hand so she could cool down the burn that was on her arm and as soon as her hand touched the burn the burn started to cool down a little. All and all Kassidy was glad she could finally treat it.

Marina sighed relieved. "Finally."

Shade looked around him with a frown up at the turret and Kassidy could see that something was wrong. "Guys, I'm not sure this is the same tower on the sound map." Shade said.

"Sure it is, Smalls," Holden said. "You said it was a tower right? So it has to be it."

"That's the problem though, it's a tower but it doesn't have a cross."

They all looked up and they saw that there was no cross on the tower. Kassidy knew that Shade was right about this not being the right tower. How could she have not seen that? Kassidy, Holden, and Marina looked back at Shade.

"Well… did you see any other tower in your little sightseeing tour?" Marina asked.

Shade looked at Marina. "Uh, no, but-"

"Okay, then what else could it be?"

The big hand landed on the Roman numeral that was twelve and then the clock tower started to ring. Bong! Bong! Bong! The four friends covered their ears and yelled in pain as the clock kept ringing. It was so loud that Kassidy thought her eardrums would burst. They all then fell from their spots but then regained their flight.

Holden shook his head furiously. "Damn it, I should've seen that coming!"

"But that proves it," Marina said. "Shade said he heard a loud bong."

They all flew back up to where they landed and Shade still looked unsure as they landed back to where they were. "This isn't it."

"Then where is it? Honestly, guys, I feel like I'm doing all the work around here."

Kassidy furrowed her brow at Marina. "You're doing all the work? I'm helping out here and I'm the one that found this tower, which Shade clearly points out at the last second that this isn't the right one."

"And I've got the sound map," Shade used his thumb to point at himself. "So you're pretty much not the only one doing work around here and I couldn't tell if there was a cross or not as we got here."

"Maybe you should've been much more specific with the landmark and then maybe we would've found it by now," Holden said.

Shade scowled at Holden. "What else is there to say? Besides you haven't done a lot of work like the rest of us have been!"

Holden scowled at Shade. "I've been trying to find the tower like the rest of you have been and this whole situation just-"

"Stinks!" Marina interjected.

Holden looked at Marina confused. "That's not even close to what I was about to say."

Kassidy thought of the reason why Marina said that and started to sniff the air and as soon as she did she covered her nose at the thick unpleasant odor wafting out from the window. "No, guys, it smells like crap!"

Shade and Holden sniffed the air and they then covered their noses. "Pee ew," Shade said.

Holden started to gag and he looked like he was about to barf. "Oh, god! It smells worse than my Grandma's perfume! Kass, you're right, it does smell like crap."

All the sudden two wings grabbed Shade and Marina and they yelped and got dragged inside the gabled window. Kassidy and Holden were shocked when they looked at the window where Shade and Marina were grabbed.

"Oh, my god," Kassidy said out loud.

Kassidy and Holden then yelped when wings grabbed them and dragged them inside the gabled window as well. All that was left behind were feathers.

* * *

**A/N- Really nothing to say besides that this is chapter fourteen. I'm just glad I got this chapter done with. Hope you enjoyed it.**


	15. We're Innocent

**Chapter 15**

**We're Innocent**

* * *

Kassidy and Holden were thrown to the ground next to Shade and Marina. Kassidy was about to look up, but she felt talons pin her hands and wings to the ground and she grunted, trying to break loose from whatever was holding her down. Using magic was of no use because her hands were pinned down.

She then heard cooing and when she looked up she saw angry pigeons staring down at her and her friends. Their captors were also staring down at them furiously. Wooden beams crisscrossed overhead like a giant web. Her eyes widened in shock but it confused her as to why they grabbed them. She knew bats were allowed to fly out at night and it was their time to fly tonight, so why were they doing this?

They were in some kind of pit, covered with sticky bird droppings. The stench was so overpowering that it was like smelling the inside of a barn. Instead, though, they were inside the clock tower.

Kassidy looked at her friends and Shade was on his back as his captor held him by his wings using his talons. Marina and Holden were held down by only their one wing by their captors and they were all struggling as well as they were looking up.

"Pigeons," Marina said.

Shade looked at Marina, Kassidy, and Holden. "Guys, what're we gonna do?"

"I-" Marina grunted as the pigeon holding her down scrunched his talons into her. "I don't know."

"What the hell's going on?" Holden shouted but then he grunted when the pigeon that was holding him down also scrunched him.

The pigeons that were holding all four of them down then threw them to the ground and then pinned their wings so they wouldn't move. "Captain, these are the four renegades that Hegland saw kill our friend," the one pinning Shade said.

_Kill? _Kassidy thought. _What the hell is he talking about?_

They then looked back up and a pigeon glided down from a beam and landed in front of them. Kassidy realized that he must've been the Captain. The Captain then turned around to face the other pigeons. "Silence, give me more light!"

A pigeon near them pulled back a sheet of paper and as soon as he did, some light came through the hole that made Kassidy have to squint her eyes. A shadow then came down on all four of the friends and they looked to see that the Captain was inspecting them. He looked at Shade and then he pulled at his hair and Shade cried out in pain. The Captain then looked at Marina and he hit her on the head with his wing and Marina then grunted. He then looked at Holden and then he used his beak and pecked him on the head and Holden cried out in pain. The Captain then looked at Kassidy and as soon as he looked at her he looked shocked.

Kassidy didn't know what to do but she didn't want to use her magic this instant until she figured out what was going on. This whole thing did not make any sense to her.

Without doing anything to Kassidy, the Captain then stood up straight. "Hegland, come forward."

The four of them heard footsteps and they saw a pigeon with his head down-which Kassidy assumed was Hegland-and he looked scared. As soon as Hegland looked at them, Kassidy saw a scratch mark on the side of his neck. "Uh… these aren't the ones. There were two of them, not four! I-I told you, they were huge!"

"Are you sure? Tch- what am I saying? You're never sure."

"Oh… what if the giant bats come back? Their wings-"

"Enough!"

The four friends looked at each other confused. Kassidy knew a lot of different types of bats, including giant ones, but she's never heard of giant bats flying around a city. She thought that maybe this pigeon was seeing things. But how did he get that scratch mark? Kassidy thought that maybe he scratched his neck on something or he got scratched by an animal that looked like a bat but was pretty huge.

Or was he telling the truth?

Kassidy, Shade, and Marina were staring at the Captain with some anger, but Holden looked so nervous. The Captain noticed Holden and he leaned his head towards him and Holden's eyes widened even more. "How about it, Silverwing? You seem like you know something that the rest of us don't know about."

Holden gulped and he started to stutter. The Captain then looked at the pigeon that was holding down Holden and he nodded. The pigeon holding down Holden then tightened his grip around Holden's arms and Holden bared his teeth and grunted in pain.

"Hey, featherhead," Shade shouted with courage at the Captain. "Leave him alone!"

The Captain was about to stomp on Shade's head and Kassidy was about to use her magic on him until she heard someone speak. "He's arrived, sir!"

The Captain put down his foot and he turned around. The four friends looked to where the Captain was looking and Kassidy was shocked to see who it was and her jaw dropped. _No…_

Stepping out from the shadows was none other than Brutus himself.

The Captain saluted to Brutus and then Brutus looked at the four of them. When he saw them he stepped forward and looked at Shade, Holden, and Kassidy and he especially looked at Kassidy with the same anger in his eyes when he looked at Kassidy for the first time. "You three!"

"B-Brutus," Shade said.

Holden cussed out loud without even thinking and that earned a look from Brutus. Holden then pressed his lips together nervously.

"Wasn't breaking the law enough for you, bats?" Brutus said. "You and your colony have now graduated to murder."

Shade looked at Brutus confused. "Murder? My colony would never murder!"

Brutus looked at Shade. "So, you admit it was just you and your friends here."

Kassidy bared her teeth at Brutus. "We didn't do anything!"

"My sentry described them as giant bats," the Captain said. "Unlike these four."

Brutus stood up straight. "Preposterous! The Silverwings are obviously killing innocent pigeons as retribution to our burning of Tree Haven."

"That's insane," Shade said with anger. "No bat can kill a pigeon!"

"No one bat perhaps." Brutus then eyed Kassidy with a cold glare. "But perhaps one with magic can." Kassidy's eyes widened at the remark Brutus said. "Or perhaps she used her magic to hypnotize the colony into ambushing a pigeon. Besides, I've heard tales of witches using magic for many evil purposes. A witch will do anything within their power to get what they want. It would make sense for you to hypnotize many of the Silverwings like Frieda to do your bidding. It would explain why Frieda didn't hand you or your friends over and it would also explain why these three are with a devil like you."

Kassidy continued to bare her teeth at Brutus in anger.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Holden shouted out loud no longer looking nervous. "She's never even done that!"

Marina looked at Holden with her eyes narrowed. "Holden, shut up!"

Brutus then looked at Holden and Holden went back to being nervous and he had his ears lowered. "If I was you, I'd listen to your wise little friend here."

"Look I don't want to get on your bad side, man," Holden said nervously. "I just don't believe that she would do anything like that. Let alone-"

"Silence!"

Holden lowered his head scared. "I'll keep my mouth shut…"

Brutus rolled his eyes and then he looked at Shade. "Tell me where your colony is, now!"

"I don't know," Shade said.

Brutus then looked at Marina and Marina had her eyes widened. "Why exactly is a Brightwing in league with these criminals?"

Marina looked at Kassidy, Holden, and Shade. Kassidy tried to keep her temper under control because she didn't want to cause more trouble than there already was but she couldn't handle the fact that now Brutus thought that she was the reason for a pigeon's death. Never in her life had she ever hypnotized anyone to do things for her, she didn't even know how to do that.

"Answer the General," the Captain shouted.

Marina flinched but then she looked at Brutus bravely. "They're not criminals!"

Brutus looked at Marina not satisfied. "Ugh, bats! Your ancestors couldn't see who to decide with and neither can you! You, creatures, make me sick."

At this point, Kassidy had enough to hear from Brutus. "We make you sick? Here's something you should know 'Brutus', you make me sick."

"Kass," Marina shouted.

Brutus looked at Kassidy and got near her and Kassidy didn't even change her expression as his face got near hers. "Is that right, witch?"

"Well I'm not going to be silent now am I? That war was a long time ago, Brutus! I'm pretty much sure we've learned our lessons."

"So you think you bats have learned your lessons by killing a pigeon? An outrage is what it is!"

"We didn't do it, Brutus, and I never use my magic for any type of murder. You think because I look like this and have magic I would be capable of doing bad causes? Well, I can tell you this; I'm not a bad witch. There are such things as good witches. You obviously can't see that because you don't even give me a chance. He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees."

Everyone looked at Kassidy confused at the last part she just said. The pigeons started to whisper with one another. Brutus looked at the Captain and he just shrugged his shoulders. Brutus looked back at Kassidy. "What does that mean?"

"It basically means if you want to live in peace and comfort you shouldn't be a know it all and not be so judgmental or have a strong opinion on everything you see. It's obvious though that's what you're doing right now. You are no General whatsoever and you can go to Hell."

Shade, Holden, and Marina looked at Kassidy shocked. Brutus looked at Kassidy more furiously and Kassidy didn't look away from him. "I knew there was something about you that I didn't like. You will regret you ever said those words to me, witch." Brutus then looked back at the Captain. "Captain, post sentries all over the city."

"It's already been done, General," the Captain said.

"Fine, capture and arrest all Silverwings!"

"No," Shade shouted.

Brutus then started to walk away. "I will alert the owls in the northern forest. Oh, and Captain-" Brutus then looked back at the Captain, "torture those two Silverwing males and the Brightwing until they reveal the colony's whereabouts." Brutus then looked at Kassidy. "And as for the witch, kill her and then throw her corpse in the nearest garbage you can find for the cats to feed on." Brutus then took off and flew out of the clock tower.

The four friends gasped as the pigeons stared down at them ready to do their work. They were especially getting ready to kill off Kassidy. One by one, pigeons began to drop from their perches and began to crowd in.

* * *

The air was chilly. But what was even chillier was how the house was abandoned. Just looking at it now sent bad vibes to Raymond, crime scene tape was around the yard of the house but no cop was seen around here. Stella managed to find the house they were looking for and when they got the location and everything, Raymond used his transportation spell to materialize him, Stella, and Sylvester to the house.

The three of them then made their way to the inside of the house and they had to cross the crime scene tape in order to get near the house. Raymond and Stella made sure to wear gloves because they didn't want their fingerprints on anything. When they reached the door of the house, Raymond opened the door and then they all went in and Raymond made sure to shut the door. When they looked around them it was as they expected it to be when they arrived. It was a total wreck and cobwebs were found in certain places and dust was everywhere.

"Jesus, they did some damage here," Sylvester said.

Stella looked at Raymond. "What now?"

Raymond looked at Stella. "We need to know exactly what happened here. I'll use a hologram spell to playback the events in which this all happened."

Raymond then looked around him and then he took a deep breath. He then raised his arms and got in the details of what he wanted to do. He pictured what was around him and imagined himself playing back something like a video. As he did so he then used his one hand to go back and forth and as he did, people began to appear like they were ghosts, but instead, they were the people that were here some time ago. Raymond kept using his hand to go back to what happened and he tried to find something. He then saw something that caught his eye and he stopped.

Raymond's eyes widened when he saw that the culprits they were looking for were smashing and breaking things all over the place and they were entirely covered in black, but he couldn't see their faces. He then saw a man, a woman, and two little girls tied up with their backs against each other on the ground. He also saw a dog locked up in a cage and the dog was growling and barking. He saw that the girls were crying very scared and the man and woman were shouting at the culprits. He then saw that one of the culprits was writing on a sheet of paper-which was the male one-and as soon as the culprit was done, the culprit left the sheet of paper on the kitchen table and the culprit and his companion got near the man, the woman, the two girls, and the dog and the male culprit swished his hand in the air and as soon as the culprit did, magic surrounded them and then as soon as the magic disappeared, they were all gone.

"My god," Sylvester said. "This is not good."

Raymond used his hand to fast forward a little until Stella said: "Wait, stop." Raymond stopped and he looked at Stella and she was pointing at something. "Look."

Raymond and Sylvester looked to where Stella was pointing and they saw three bats near a window. He then saw that one of the bats used magic to open the window and she looked worried. She was flying around very fast going from one room to another and the two bats that were with her were watching her. Raymond then heard them talking and he was glad that he and Stella had the animal tongue spell on them because humans did not understand animal tongue. The more he looked at the female the more he realized that her using magic could only mean one thing: it was Kassidy Kimler.

Yes, it was definitely Kassidy and he knew that one of the male bats was Holden Brooks but he didn't know which one it was. Raymond thought that one of the males was a friend that Kassidy and Holden made. He did notice though that Kassidy wasn't wearing a necklace but instead she was wearing a choker. Raymond then realized that she must've lost her necklace and that's why she and Holden were now bats.

He then saw Kassidy look to the kitchen table and she then took off and then landed on the table. He saw as Kassidy was reading the note and the two male bats came over to her and landed next to her. After a few moments of silence, Kassidy then started to rip the paper into shreds. She looked angry and Raymond was a little surprised that she didn't burst into flames. Usually, when it comes to emotions, Raymond and others like him make a potion to drink so their magic wouldn't get out of control in any situation and he realized that if she didn't have that potion to drink, her magic would definitely get out of control. If she got too out of control, Raymond couldn't even imagine what would happen.

Raymond used his hand to backtrack the scenes a little and then he paused everything while tapping the air like it was a touch screen. He walked over to the kitchen table and as soon as he did he began to read the letter on the table and as he read it he couldn't believe what was on here.

He then looked at Sylvester and Stella. "You need to read this."

Stella and Sylvester walked over to the kitchen table and Stella got next to Raymond while Sylvester hopped on a chair and then hopped onto the kitchen table and together they began to read the letter. As they read it their eyes widened and as soon as they were done reading it they looked at Raymond.

"What does he mean by 'You don't know me but soon you will'?" Sylvester asked.

Raymond put his hand on his chin and he started to think. "My guess is, is that he somehow knows them but they don't know him. For whatever reason he and his partner are willing to reveal themselves to the Kimlers, but why? And why haven't they kidnapped Kassidy when they had the chance?"

"Maybe they're trying to scare them?" Stella said. "We all know how toxic they can be. Maybe they're also trying to play with Kassidy just so they can get to her."

"That may be, but since they don't have Kassidy we might be able to track her down and find her at a fast rate if we work together and somehow stop the culprits from doing what they're doing. They probably even have her necklace and that's why she doesn't have it. No matter who or what anyone is, those two can't be trusted. They're drugs that no one can quit on."

Raymond played the scene and he and his partners continued to watch the three bats and hopefully find a way to find them and save them from the enemies. Whatever these culprits wanted, it was clear that they wouldn't stop until they got what they wanted.

* * *

Standing on one of the city towers in the darkness, the male figure managed to see through Kassidy's vision and he kind of expected her to use the spell to block anyone from seeing through her eyes but he was delighted to know that he could now look through her eyes. As he was doing it his partner was watching him and waited for him to say what was happening.

He then got out of seeing through Kassidy's eyes and he couldn't help but smile because now Kassidy and her friends were now in deep trouble because the General thought that the Silverwings are the reasons behind a pigeon being killed. The conclusion that Brutus made was that Kassidy used her magic to do some evil biddings.

This made him laugh.

He then thought about the part about one of the pigeons saying that he saw _giant_ bats. As he thought about this he thought this sounded like a great opportunity for him and his partner to do something they lusted for a lot.

Hunting.

He turned his head to his partner with his smile and his partner tilted her head to the side as if to ask what he was thinking. He knew exactly what he was thinking and he thought this was a pretty good idea. He wanted this to be their only form from now on and until they were in their forms, he would put his necklace at their secret hiding place.

* * *

Holden's ears twitched in terror as he saw pigeons sharpening their beaks against stone. He already had a scar on his back and he wasn't planning on getting anymore tonight. He didn't want any of this, but already this was happening. He couldn't believe that Brutus was here and that he declared that all Silverwings would be captured. He thought that all of this was crazy.

He looked at his friends and they were looking at the pigeons nervous about what they were going to do, all except for Kassidy. She was staring at the pigeons with a determined look on her face looking around. He was surprised that Kassidy didn't look worried about any of this, even when Brutus told the Captain to kill her. But if she was thinking of a way out, Holden hoped it would be worth her effort.

"Guys, what do we do?" Marina asked while whispering.

"Get out of here," Shade whispered. "As fast as possible."

"How?" Holden whispered. "This whole place is guarded with pigeons and it would be impossible to get out without them noticing us."

"Wait a minute, that's it," Kassidy whispered.

Shade looked at Kassidy confused. "What?"

Kassidy used her head to point to the sheet of paper that was near the hole. "Pigeons can't see in the dark."

Holden looked to the hole and he then smiled at Kassidy. "Kass, you're brilliant."

Shade and Marina smiled at Kassidy in acknowledgment as well. Kassidy slightly nodded but didn't smile. "No one move, I got this."

Holden looked at Kassidy and he watched as Kassidy was concentrating on the sheet of paper with her eyes and her hand and as she did, Holden saw that the paper was moving a little. Then with all her effort, Kassidy swished her hand to the right and the sheet of paper covered the hole, turning the room into darkness.

The pigeons were now momentarily blind as they started to freak out. They were bumping into one another and were flying around panicked.

"Don't let the prisoners escape," one of the pigeons shouted.

The four friends then bit into their captors' claws and the captors cooed in pain and then Kassidy swished her hand to the right hard and sent the four pigeons crashing into other pigeons. They then took off into the air.

"Way to go, guys," Shade said.

"Let's move," Marina said.

The four of them then began to make their way out of the clock tower fast and they used their sound vision to scan the turret. They almost flew into a couple of pigeons a couple of time but they did all they could to get out but Holden was having a hard time keeping up with Kassidy, Shade, and Marina. Pigeons were everywhere and it was a complete ruckus in here.

Before he could look anywhere else he all the sudden bumped into something and he lost his flight and he screamed while falling from the air and then he all the sudden crashed down onto a beam.

* * *

Kassidy, Shade, and Marina managed to get out of the clock tower and they were breathing hard. Kassidy looked at her friends and she realized that Holden wasn't with them. "Guys, where's Holden?"

They all stopped and they looked back at the clock tower shocked, realizing where Holden was. He was still in the clock tower.

"Guys," they all heard Holden shouting.

Without wasting any time, they all went back into the clock tower to save Holden. They beat their wings hard and as soon as they got in they saw that Holden was trying to fly past a pigeon and the pigeon was blocking him. Holden looked scared for his life.

Kassidy flew at the pigeon with incredible speed. "Hiya!" She then ax kicked the pigeon to the head and the pigeon hit its head on the board and then fell down to the ground. Kassidy looked at Holden and he looked at her surprised. "Holden, come on!"

Holden started to follow Kassidy and they made their way up and started to follow Shade and Marina. As they were about to make their way out, a pigeon all the sudden grabbed Shade's wing with its beak and Shade cried out in pain. Marina gasped and then she tackled the pigeon that had Shade's wing and then all three of them plummeted to another board. Shade managed to rip his wing out of the pigeon's beak and as he did he cried out more in pain when his wing got ripped and then he pushed the pigeon's head. He and Marina then flew up to catch up with Kassidy and Holden.

As they all flew up, Kassidy and Holden heard Shade grunting in pain and then they saw that he crashed into a wall and then he hit a plank. Kassidy, Holden, and Marina gasped and made their way to him fast. They then landed near Shade.

Marina got on her knees and put her hands on Shade's shoulders. "You okay?"

Shade got up and looked at Marina. "Just fly!"

Together the four of them took off and made their way out of the clock tower and in a matter of moments, they _all_ managed to get out. They flew as far and as fast as they could and they were breathing hard, especially Shade with his ripped wing.

Marina looked at Shade worried. "Do you- do you wanna stop and rest your wing?"

Shade almost fell from the sky but he managed to stay put in the sky. He looked back towards the clock tower mad. "Pigeons, I hate them as almost as I hate those stupid owls!"

Kassidy furrowed her brow at Shade. "Shade, now isn't a good time to think about that!"

"Kass, they were about to kill me back there," Holden said furiously. "Plus they were going to do the same thing to Shade! I hate to admit it but I agree with Shade, I hate the pigeons and the owls!"

"Shade, Holden, revenge isn't worth it," Marina said. "We have to warn your colony."

"Right and we also need to find that cross on that tower you told us about, Shade," Kassidy said.

Holden sighed and he cursed under his breath.

They then all heard a bell ringing and they looked ahead of them. Marina then smiled. "Guys, that's it!"

Shade looked at Marina confused. "What?"

"The tower with the cross! It's from your sound map!"

Kassidy saw the tower and it was magnificent, but it wasn't any tower. It was very gothic and Kassidy loved anything that was gothic. She couldn't wait to get close to it. She also knew it wasn't just any tower.

"It's a cathedral," Kassidy said. "That's what you saw in your sound map, Shade!"

"That's where they were meant to stop," Shade said and he flew ahead of the three of them.

"Smalls, wait up," Holden flew after Shade.

As they were flying, Kassidy then noticed something on the cathedral and as she got a better look at it she saw pigeons were perched on the cathedral. She gasped and so did Marina and they looked at each other and they both knew they were thinking the same thing. They flew to Shade and Holden fast and they grabbed them by their manes and landed them near a ledge of a tower. Kassidy and Marina then landed on the ledge and looked from behind the building to the pigeons that were perched on the cathedral.

"Did they notice us?" Marina asked.

"I don't think so," Kassidy said.

"Hey, what gives?" Shade asked.

"Yeah, why did you make us land here?" Holden asked.

Marina looked at the boys and shushed them then indicated them over with her hand. The boys looked to where Kassidy and Marina were looking and they had their eyes widened when they saw the pigeons that were on patrol. Kassidy recognized one of the pigeons to be Hegland and he was the only one fidgeting on patrol, unlike the others that he was patrolling with.

Holden then threw his hands up and threw them back down. "Great, now what?"

Kassidy noticed a lamp that was under where the pigeons were patrolling and she put her finger on her lip and thought of something. Hegland said he saw giant bats and he was now scared as if he were a child hiding under his blankets when he thought he saw the Boogeyman. What if they could scare them off by putting on a little show for them?

Kassidy slightly smiled and she looked at her friends. "Guys, I got an idea." Kassidy pointed towards the lamp. "See that right there?" The three friends looked to where Kassidy was looking. "Two of us can go down there and make huge shadows to make it look like giant bat ones."

The three of them smiled at Kassidy. "Great idea, Kass," Marina said.

"Ooh, that sounds like fun, I wanna do it," Holden said excitedly.

Kassidy looked at Holden seriously. "No, not you, you and Shade will stay here and Marina and I will create the diversion."

Holden and Shade's smiles went down. "Why can't I do it?" Shade asked.

"Shade, your wing is ripped and I don't want to afford you making it any worse. You need to rest your wing."

"My wing's fine, Kass."

"It's not fine, Shade," Marina said. "You need to give it a rest until the pigeons are gone."

"And why can't I do it?" Holden asked.

Kassidy looked at Holden with her arms crossed. "First of all, because you're not very experienced with flying, and secondly you almost got yourself killed, besides you get yourself distracted too easily." Kassidy saw that Holden was looking towards the pigeons again and she got annoyed. "Holden!"

Holden looked back at Kassidy. "What? I was paying attention."

Kassidy sighed and rolled her eyes and she then grabbed Holden's chin and turned his head towards Shade. "Watch him." She then turned his head back towards her. "Don't let him out of your sight."

Holden sighed and then crossed his arms annoyed. "Fine, I'll be on babysitting duty."

Shade narrowed his eyes at Holden.

Kassidy and Marina then took off and made their way to the lamp. As soon as they got near it they landed near on the ledge of the cathedral. Marina put her finger to her mouth to indicate to Kassidy to be quiet and she pointed at the pigeons. Kassidy nodded and they heard and saw the pigeons teasing and scaring Hegland and they were laughing at him. Hegland didn't like how they were acting towards him but he was still scared. Kassidy honestly felt bad for Hegland.

Kassidy and Marina looked at each other and they nodded. They then flew over the lamp and as soon as they did their shadows appeared on the cathedral and they were pretty big. Hegland was the first to notice them and he screamed and when the other two looked to where Hegland was looking they screamed as well. They bumped into each other and then took off into the night still screaming.

Kassidy and Marina started to laugh at what they just witnessed and as they did, Holden and Shade flew to them and they were laughing as well. "Guys, that was awesome," Holden said. "They fell for it!"

"I thought someone was going to break a wing trying to get away first," Marina said.

They all continued to laugh as they made their way up to a ledge and landed. Kassidy wiped away tears of laughter from her eyes and as she did she began to glow and as she glowed her friends had to shield their eyes. Kassidy saw she was glowing and she stopped smiling and when she did the glow died away. "Sorry." Shade grunted and he held on his wing in pain. The three of them looked at Shade worried. "Shade, you sure you're alright? I'm sure I can patch it up with the right herbs for it."

"I'm fine, Kass," Shade said. "Don't worry about me." Shade looked around him and he was confused. "The colony isn't here…"

Kassidy looked around her and Shade was right. The colony was nowhere to be seen. Kassidy wondered where the colony now was.

"Do you think we missed them already?" Holden asked.

"I don't know…" Shade then looked next to him and he smiled. "Heh, check out Mr. Ugly over there." Shade pointed at a statue of a gargoyle. "Tell me he doesn't look like a giant bat."

Kassidy rolled her eyes but smiled. "Shade, remember when we were talking about gargoyles back at Tree Haven?"

Shade looked at Kassidy confused. "Yeah…"

"That's a gargoyle."

Shade's eyes widened and he looked back at the gargoyle, but then he looked confused again. "Wait, didn't you say when night comes these guys roam around?"

Kassidy chuckled. "I also said that they were part of a fantasy. Fantasy pretty much means its make-believe." Kassidy got near the gargoyle and knocked on it. "And as you can tell, it's hard as a rock."

Shade looked at Kassidy sheepish. "Oh… right."

"When did you guys talk about gargoyles?" Holden asked curiously.

"While you were out cold," Kassidy said.

Marina got next to Shade. "You don't really believe in giant bats, do you? That's just some story made up by 'scared birds'."

"Marina, I hate to break it to you, but there are such things as giant bats," Kassidy said.

Marina got on top of the ledge and spread opened her wings. "Bah, you better dash before I dine!"

Holden chuckled at what Marina acted as, as she landed next to Kassidy and put her hand on Kassidy's shoulder. "Really, Kass, giant bats don't exist."

"Kass, you may be right a lot but I don't think there are such things as giant bats like Marina said," Holden said.

"Really?" The four of them jumped and gasped and when they turned around they heard the voice coming out of the gargoyle statue. "You'd be surprised."

Holden, Shade, and Marina jumped back scared and held on to each other and as they did, Kassidy imagined fire coming out of her hands and on cue, she ignited fire on the palms of her hands and she bared her teeth towards the statue.

* * *

**A/N- Well that takes care of chapter fifteen. The quote I used in this was when Kassidy told it and it was, "He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees." This quote was by Benjamin Franklin and he has some really good quotes and I thought it would be a good quote to use in this story. Well until then chapter sixteen will be here soon.**


	16. Sanctuary

**Chapter 16**

**Sanctuary**

* * *

Kassidy wasn't stupid, she knew that statue wasn't actually talking and if it was, its mouth would've been moving. Something was in that statue.

"The world is full of strange and wondrous things. Just because you've never seen them, doesn't mean they don't exist."

Kassidy looked at the statue confused. The voice didn't sound threatening, in fact, it sounded very kind. At this point, she didn't know what to do and she looked at her friends and they were as confused as her.

"You mean like giant bats?" Shade asked towards the statue.

Kassidy looked back at the statue and she then noticed something in the mouth of it. As she got a better look at it she could tell that like them that there was a bat. He had a gentle smile on his face and he then walked away into the throat of the statue.

As Kassidy's friends got next to her, she demolished the fire from her hands. She then looked at them. "Do we follow him?"

"Probably," Marina said.

"In that case, I need to do that sight-seeing spell, it's time for me to do that anyways."

Her friends nodded and Kassidy made sure to get all the details right, imagining that whoever would try to see through their sight would only see a block and hovered her hand from their foreheads to their chin and it was a success as usual. This was the only hard spell that Kassidy learned to manage to use and it was mostly because she wanted to learn it so no one could see her secret life if they had powers.

"Come inside," the bat in the gargoyle said.

The four friends looked at each other and then flew near the gargoyle. Kassidy could see that extended far back into the spire was a sort of tunnel.

Holden furrowed his brow. "You guys expect me to go in there?"

"Well it's the right tower," Shade said. "The cross and everything. And there's definitely a bat inside."

"Don't be afraid," said the bat's voice from deep within the spire.

"Well that's good enough for me," Holden said sarcastically.

Kassidy looked at Holden annoyed. "Holden, this is our only option. It's either the gargoyle or the pigeons."

"Well I'm not taking my chances with the pigeons," Marina said.

Shade got in front of Holden. "Look, man, It's got to be safe. Otherwise, my colony wouldn't use it as a landmark, right?"

Kassidy watched as Holden was thinking about this as he looked to all three of them and then to the gargoyle's mouth. He then sighed. "After you, guys."

They all then flew inside the gargoyle and it wasn't easy for them to fly directly into the dripping jaws of the gargoyle but they managed to fly into the gullet. As they flew inside through the gullet the tunnel then opened out. Listening intently as her echoes came back to her, Kassidy saw that they were inside the spire and it had a vast space. She also saw herbs were hanging on beams and they were pretty much everywhere and she could name all the herbs that she was seeing.

They all then landed on a beam and they all then saw a bat roosting upside down on a beam away from them and he was scribbling something onto the wall. Kassidy squinted her eyes to get a better look at it and there were markings all over the wall. She couldn't tell what it was but she kind of figured that it looked important to this bat.

"Ah, Graywings, leaving right on time," the bat marking something on the wall said to himself.

Holden was looking unsure about this. "This is something you don't see every day."

"Who are you?" Shade asked.

The bat that was scribbling something onto the wall dropped down to a beam below him and looked at the four friends. He was all white and he looked very old. His wings were translucent, so you could see the dark outlines of his forearm and long, spindly fingers. Even the latticework of his veins stood out. Kassidy then noticed that his eyes were glazed ghostly white with cataracts. She then realized that he was blind.

"My name is Zephyr," the blind bat said. "I'm…uh…" He thought with his finger on his chin and then looked back at the four of them after a few seconds of thinking. "The bat traffic controller for the migrating colonies." He then walked closer to them. "This city is the central hub through which all colonies pass."

Marina spread opened her wings and flew towards the markings on the wall and then landed to get a better look at them and with curiosity, Kassidy took off from the beam she was on and landed next to Marina to get a better look at the markings as well. As she looked at them she was surprised by how neat and organized it looked. She and Marina then looked at each other surprised.

"Those are the flight paths, my dears." Zephyr got near the girls and they both smiled at him.

"My name is Marina," Marina then gestured to Kassidy. "That's Kassidy," she then pointed at the boys, "and that's Shade and Holden."

Holden tilted his head confused. "You know where all the colonies are?" Shade then flew towards the wall and landed on a beam and looked at the flight paths. "That's a lot to remember…"

Shade then looked back at Zephyr. "So… where are the Silverwings?"

Zephyr thought with his finger on his chin. "Uh… they passed by here about two hours ago heading south."

Shade smiled. "We can catch up to them in no time. Let's go!"

Kassidy sighed as she rubbed her temples knowing he still had that ripped wing. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Shade looked at her confused. "Why?"

Kassidy looked at Shade. "Are you serious right now?"

"Well off you go then," Zephyr said. "Unless you think that ripped wing of yours will slow you down."

Shade looked at his ripped wing and when he did, the color drained from his face. He then passed out onto the floor.

Holden landed next to the girls and they looked at each other. "He certainly took that seriously." Holden scoffed.

Kassidy and Marina rolled their eyes.

* * *

He already couldn't stand it here. The weather was freezing him to the core of his body, this strange place was way too bright, and it was too noisy. It sickened him as much as it sickened him to even think about humans.

Goth was flying in the darkness with Throbb trying to find more food to fill up their hunger. They used their web of sound to search in the city for something that was fresh and alive. What they've been eating was fine with Goth, but he mostly preferred bats. Oh, how he wanted to sink his teeth into a bat, even if it was just only one. He'd been trying to come up with a plan to get them out of here and it occurred to him that if they were to get out of here they would need to find a bat.

"Goth, when are we ever going to get out of here?" Throbb complained.

Goth growled to himself and didn't dare to try and strangle him. "When we find a bat we'll be out of this monstrosity in no time."

"How long will that-" Goth glared at Throbb and Throbb then closed his mouth.

Goth looked away from Throbb and he shook his head. _Why was I cursed to have him as my brother?_

He then noticed two pigeons roosting on the top of one of the tall architectures and the pigeons were looking around them. The lights that were shining on them were flickering on and off and the pigeons didn't dare to move from their spots. Goth smiled at the sight of them and he flew towards them and was ready to attack them. As he flew towards them he flexed his claws and kept his eyes on his target.

All the sudden the pigeons got attacked by something and they yelped.

Goth stopped in his tracks confused and before he could process what just happened, he then heard bones breaking and the sounds of the pigeons' death rattle. Throbb got next to Goth and he was confused as Goth. They looked at each other and then flew towards the architecture that the pigeons were on. When they got to it they landed and it was pretty dark around this area but since they were bats they had no problem seeing in the dark.

When they looked straight ahead of them their eyes widened at the sight they were seeing.

In front of them were two giant bats.

The giant bats were feasting on the pigeons they had killed and they had their backs to Goth and Throbb. As they were eating blood was getting everywhere and organs were coming out of the pigeons. Goth noticed something about one of them that caught his attention. On one of the giant bats' backs, there was a drawing of a ferocious-looking snake and it looked like it was actually staring at him. How could he have not noticed them before or catch their scent?

As the two giant bats kept eating, Goth and Throbb looked at each other and Throbb was shocked. Goth looked back at the giant bats and slowly walked towards them, trying not to make a sound. As he advanced towards them, thinking they haven't heard him, one of them flicked their ears back. Goth stopped and held his breath.

"I can smell you from all the way over here," the one bat with the snake on his back said. The voice sounded deep but it didn't sound fluent like Goth's. He then laughed and stood up with his back still to Goth as did the other one. "Now ain't that convenient that we would come across giant bats like us." The giant bats then turned around and they were smiling at Goth and Throbb. "Am I right?"

Goth's eyes widened more at the male that stood before him. The male bat had two different colored eyes with one of them being green and the other being brown and they looked more like the eyes of a snake rather than the eyes of a bat. Four pointy teeth of his seemed to also be more snake-like rather than of a bat. On his arms, he also had drawings of two snakes-one on each arm-that looked ferocious as well. He had blackish-grayish hair, with a beard, with a hazelwood mane, along with steel gray fur, and sangria red wings. He looked to be around his middle ages and he looked very muscular and strong.

The other giant bat next to the male was a female and she was around her middle ages as well and even though she was she looked strong like her companion and she looked very pretty. Her eyes were a very intense green color and it was like looking at gems. She had raven black hair, sacramento green wings, with a turkish blue mane, and sepia tan fur. Goth then noticed her claws and they were longer than his, Throbb's, and her companion's and they looked deadly enough to even slice someone into pieces.

He noticed that these two weren't wearing bands like him and Throbb. He then wondered if these two actually lived up here. Were there more giant bats here like him?

The two giant bats then wiped the blood off of their muzzles and then the male bat crossed his arms. "Where are my manners? My name's Martin," he then gestured to his companion, "and this is my lovely wife, Dianna."

Throbb got next to Goth and he looked a little timid looking at these two strangers. If Goth was being honest he couldn't entirely blame him. These two come out of nowhere and he had no idea what they were capable of.

"I see they're having doubts about us, dear," the one bat named Dianna said.

Martin hummed to himself and he then shrugged his shoulders and turned his back to them. "It's alright I understand. Why trust two bats like us, right?"

Martin all the sudden leaped forward and landed near Goth and Throbb and he looked as though he was going to bite one of them but instead he closed his jaws near them revealing his pearly white teeth and Goth flinched while Throbb yelped and got behind Goth. Martin laughed hysterically and so did Dianna. Goth couldn't help but have his eyes widened at the most they could go but he then narrowed his eyes at the two spouses and thought they were nuts. Throbb looked from behind Goth and was still scared of what just happened.

Martin wiped away the tears of laughter from his eyes as his wife got next to him and they then looked back at Goth and Throbb. "So, what might your names be?"

Goth looked at Throbb and Throbb looked at him unsure. Goth then sighed and looked back at Martin and Dianna and cleared his throat. "I suppose it's only fair that you get to know our names since you told us who you are. I'm Goth, Prince Goth of the Vampyrum Spectrum." He then gestured to Throbb. "This is my… brother-in-law, Throbb."

Martin cocked his eyebrow up. "Ah, so it seems we have royalty here and you're royal of blood. Quite interesting to say the least."

Dianna inspected Goth and Throbb as she walked around them to have a better look at them. "Indeed, and from the looks of it I'd say they have enough meat on them to make someone full, especially this one." Dianna grabbed Throbb's chin and pulled him closer to her and Throbb gulped. "With all this fat on him, it'll be enough to go on for one day." She then let go of Throbb's chin and traced one of her claws up Throbb's arm until she scratched a little scratch on his shoulder and Throbb yelped in pain. Blood trickled from Dianna's claw and she then slid her claw across her tongue to taste the blood. "Fresh to say the least, the weaker he is the more likely his fresh blood will be feasted on."

Dianna chuckled as she got back next to Martin and Goth furrowed his brow at them. "If you're planning on killing us amigos, then you're making a big mistake."

"A-Are you going to try and kill us?" Throbb asked nervously.

Martin chuckled. "Killing you would only be too easy. Besides if we wanted to eat you we would've been feasting on your carcasses right now."

"And what makes you so sure about that?" Goth asked.

Martin and Dianna looked at each other still smiling and then Martin lifted his hand in the air. Goth crossed his arms and wasn't finding Martin holding his hand in the air to be very impressing but he waited to see what he was going to do. Then all the sudden, as if he had lightning started to form in his hand. Goth and Throbb gasped. They watched as Martin controlled it and played with it a little and he didn't even get electrocuted by it.

He had magic.

Goth didn't want to believe what he was seeing but it was for real. He thought it was impossible for anyone to have magic but here in front of him was a bat with powers. He was not one to be afraid but this was so unnatural to him that he felt like his heart was going to stop but he didn't show it.

Martin then demolished the electricity in his hand. "Weren't expecting that now were you?"

"You… have magic," Goth said.

"Yes, I was born with it when I was just a pup." Martin then held out his hand and Goth then saw some sort of star on the palm of his hand but the star looked different from the stars Goth was used to and around the star was a circle. "This symbol means that I'm a wizard." Martin then put his hand down. "So what brings a couple of bats like you out here?"

Goth furrowed his brow thinking about the day he and Throbb got captured by those pesky humans. Zotz, how he wished he could kill one of them. "The humans captured us from the jungle and placed us in a fake one and were doing their experiments on us. We managed to escape from that prison, however."

Martin slowly nodded his head and looked at Goth's band. "And it seems as though they banded you two."

Dianna stepped towards Goth and grabbed his arm with the band on it. She hummed to herself and as she turned his arm to the right and left as she inspected the band on him. Goth was finding this uncomfortable. Dianna then went to Throbb and grabbed his arm with the band on it and did the same thing. Throbb looked at Goth as if to say "Help me". Dianna then released Throbb's arm and walked back to Martin and stood next to him.

"The bands they have on them are certainly the same ones we had once."

Goth was now interested on their side of the story. "You two got captured by the humans as well?"

"We have," Martin said. "At a very young age we were taken away from our parents from the jungle and like you, we were placed in a fake jungle. We were tested a lot and it always tired and angered us. But one day we found a way we could get out and we escaped. After we escaped, Dianna and I worked together to try and get home and as we did I managed to learn on my own how to use and control my powers. When we finally managed to find a way home we took our chance and when we got home we couldn't find our parents. We then found out that they were dead.

"It was tragic but after that day we decided to explore some other places. A lot of different places out there and a lot are different from this place and the jungle." Goth looked at their forearms and thought the reason why they no longer had bands on them was because of Martin's magic. "You two seem as though you could use some help."

Throbb got next to Goth. "Well we have been trying to find a bat…"

"Then you've come to the right one, if you two are to survive out here you're going to need all the food you can get for your journey back home. When it gets colder out here it's hard to survive and there can be many complications. But we have a perfect solution to your problems but in order for us to help you, you'll need to help us with something. We like to do things differently, we give someone what they need and they give us something we need in return."

Goth and Throbb looked at each other using only their eyes. They did seem like they knew a lot but for some reason, Goth had some sort of bad feeling about them. They didn't look to be normal but something was telling him that they should take their offer. Otherwise, they'd die out here. If they didn't they'd only miss the one chance they have of getting home. Maybe taking this offer wouldn't be a bad thing.

"What is it that you two require?" Goth asked.

"Smart Prince," Martin said. "We've actually been after someone for a while now and she's very important to us. We need you to help us track her down."

Goth furrowed his brow. "Why is she important?"

"Like me she has powers and she's a witch and like me, she has drawings on her but they're way different from mine. I guess you could say that she's pretty special." Another animal with powers and this she animal Martin's talking about is a witch? Goth then wondered what made her so special that these two would be after her. "She came here with three companions and the best part is that all four of them happen to be bats."

Throbb licked his lips at the mention of bats and even hearing the word bat could make Goth smile. Maybe working with these two wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe this might work.

"They're migrating and if we can get their trust then there's a chance they'll take us to the colony and you two will have the right amount of food you need for the journey back home. You help us find those four bats we'll make sure you two get the food you need and not only that I might consider getting those bands off you. So what do you say, do we have a deal?"

The thought of eating a whole colony of bats was too good to be true. Not only that, Goth might finally be able to get this band off him. The band that he was wearing irritated him and he'd be glad if Martin could get it off him. Maybe Zotz sent these two to help them get out of here. Maybe Zotz wanted Goth to trust them.

Goth looked at Throbb and he now looked calm about this. Goth then looked back at Martin. "We help you find these four bats amigo, you make sure we get to eat the colony and you get these bands off us."

Martin chuckled. "Deal." Martin extended his hand towards Goth. Goth looked at it for a few seconds but then grabbed Martin's hand and they shook on it. "As long as we don't have any problems we're good to go. You two can eat any bat you want but the witch is ours."

* * *

Kassidy was roosting next to Holden and Marina on a beam and they were watching as Zephyr was applying some medicine on Shade's wing with his foot. Shade was still passed out after he saw his wing ripped and Kassidy was glad Shade didn't try to fly out of the spire otherwise he might've made it a whole lot worse. First, it was Holden's scar, then her burn, and now Shade's ripped wing.

Shade then started to flicker his eyes open and he looked up. Holden smiled at Shade. "Hey, Smalls, have a nice nap?"

Shade rolled his eyes and sat up. "Very funny."

Marina looked at Zephyr. "So, Zephyr, when are you going to migrate?"

Zephyr looked at Marina. "Never, my full name is Zephyrnaia which means _protection." _ He looked back at Shade's wing and kept rubbing in the medicine and Shade was looking at the medicine on his wing confused. "I believe it is my destiny to protect other bats as they migrate."

Marina clutched her arm. "Don't you miss your colony?"

"I was abandoned as a baby." He then looked at Marina and pointed at her. "Perhaps you know what that is like?"

Marina sighed as she looked at her band sadly. Kassidy put her hand on Marina's shoulder and she gave her a weak smile. "Hey, it's going to be alright. Band or not it won't change a thing about who you truly are."

Marina rubbed her banded arm but gave Kassidy a weak smile back.

Shade smelled his wing and he was then grossed out. "Ugh! Gross! Get this stuff off of me!" Shade started to shake his wing up and down until the medicine was off him. "My wing's fine!"

Kassidy rolled her eyes. "Shade, that stuff is a healing poultice and your wing isn't hurting because it's working."

Kassidy, Holden, and Marina took off from their roost and landed near Zephyr and as they did, Shade tested his wing and he cried out in pain. He then passed out again. Zephyr shook his head and Kassidy sighed annoyed.

"If he keeps doing that I think we should blindfold him," Holden said.

As Zephyr wobbled back over to Shade to reapply the healing poultice on his wing, Holden saw an herb on the ground and he picked it up. He looked at it like he was actually studying it for a scientific experiment. When Kassidy saw what he picked up, she knew that he needed to be careful with it and she hoped he wouldn't do something stupid.

"Careful, that's strong medicine," Zephyr said as he reapplied the medicine on Shade's wing.

Holden looked at him confused. "Huh?"

"That herb kills pain!" Zephyr then looked at Shade and he opened his eyes and sat up again. "Don't lick your wing or you'll be out cold for a week."

As Holden's eyes went wide and he slowly put down the herb from where he found it without even looking at it, Shade looked at his wing satisfied. He then looked at Kassidy, Holden, and Marina. "Let's go, guys, we've gotta find the colony." He then took off for the entrance and Marina and Holden followed him but Kassidy stayed back knowing that the wound on Shade's wing wouldn't heal that fast and she crossed her arms.

"Oh, by the way," Zephyr said and Holden, Shade, and Marina landed near the entrance, "if that poultice falls off and your wing rips in half just come on back and I'll be happy to give you some more."

Shade looked sick after hearing what Zephyr just said. "My wing… in half?" Shade then passed out on the ground once again.

Kassidy, Holden, and Marina looked at each other and they all knew they were getting tired of Shade passing out. "All in favor of my blindfolding idea, raise your hand," Holden said.

The three friends raised their hands.

* * *

**A/N- That's chapter sixteen everyone. I was pretty excited when I finally got to the part of where Goth and Throbb finally meet Martin and Dianna and Goth and Throbb are definitely going to have an interesting time together with those two. **


	17. The Price of Having Magic

**Chapter 17**

**The Price of Having Magic**

* * *

_Concentrate… Concentrate... Concentrate…_

It'd been a while for Kassidy since the last time she practiced using her magic. She was using the best of her memories to try and remember some of the hard spells she couldn't get right and she was struggling. She made sure to practice the easy ones first and it wasn't hard for her to do that. While she was practicing, Marina was sorting through herbs and putting them in the right place and to Kassidy's surprise, Holden was helping her. Shade was on the ceiling resting his wing and once in a while he would test it to see how it felt and Zephyr was working on the flight paths again and he was talking to himself and while they all did their things they would look at Kassidy to see her do her magic, not that Kassidy asked them to watch her.

This time she was trying to do an invisibility spell and she pictured the best she could her whole body and face and usually when she did this spell she would need a mirror just so she could get a better idea of what she wanted. But since she didn't have a mirror she needed to do it from the heart, besides she couldn't always rely on a mirror. As she concentrated she lifted her hand in the air and she closed her eyes, breathed, and hoped for the best. She then flicked her wrist hard and then there was silence. When she opened her eyes she sighed frustrated.

It didn't work.

Trying not to overreact she did her breathing technique and after that, she rubbed her eyes after a while of practicing the hard magic. When she watched her parents do hard magic she thought they made it look easy. The more she practiced though, the more likely she would be advanced like her parents used to be.

"What was the spell you were trying to do this time?" Holden asked.

Kassidy looked at Holden. "The invisibility one… and as you probably have noticed I failed to make myself invisible."

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of some of these spells," Marina said. "Besides you're very smart and I think you'll get them down in no time."

"Yeah, I guess…"

"I think you could use a break from practicing, why don't you help us sort these herbs out? It could help you relax."

The spells were getting Kassidy frustrated but as she thought about it maybe she should take a break from it and besides sorting things never got her angry. "Sure, why not?"

Kassidy got to Holden and Marina and started to help them organize the herbs in the right places. She sometimes used her levitation spell to navigate the herbs to the rightful place and it was oddly satisfying for her. She may not be advanced yet but she was at least grateful for at least learning the easier spells.

"So that pentagram mark is going to be pretty hard to find," Holden said. "I mean it's not like we can just go asking around if they have a pentagram mark on their palm."

"I know," Kassidy kept sorting through the herbs. "But we somehow need to try and if we don't we might be like this for the rest of our lives."

"And I hope that I won't be like that for the rest of my life."

"Why do you need to find a pentagram on someone's palm?" Marina asked.

Kassidy looked at Marina's confused face. "When someone has a pentagram on the palm of their hand it means they have magic, like this one."

Kassidy lifted the hand with the pentagram on her palm and Marina looked at it amazed. "I've never seen a star like that one before. It looks so different." Kassidy then saw that Marina was thinking of something and after a few seconds of thinking she looked back at Kassidy as she lowered her hand. "You know maybe when you do find someone with that pentagram on their palm maybe you could ask him or her if they could help you with some of the spells you're having problems with."

Kassidy never thought about that before and it did seem like a good idea. If she did find someone with the pentagram on their palm maybe she could not only ask them to help her and Holden to transform them back to their human selves but maybe also ask them if they could help her with her magic-if it wouldn't be of any trouble. Also if she could also trust them, her parents had taught her that if she were to trust someone she at least had to see what their personality was like.

"Well we'll just see how things go from here," Kassidy said. Holden then picked up a berry and he looked at it without putting it where it needs to go and was about to plop it into his mouth. "Holden, don't eat that!"

Holden looked at Kassidy confused. "Why?"

"You can't just try to eat something like that and hope it'll taste good. It may look like food you can eat but it's not."

"It's a berry though."

"I wouldn't eat that," the three of them looked at Zephyr and he was still looking at the flight paths. "But you might want to squeeze a little of its juice under your band, Marina." Marina looked at Zephyr uncertain as he turned to look at her. "Go ahead, I can hear your skin chafing under that metal."

Marina picked up a berry that was near her and she then applied its juice under her band and as she did, she sighed relieved. "That feels good."

"Stupid berry," Holden mumbled as he scowled at the berry in his hand.

"Never underestimate any type of herb, Holden," Zephyr said as he looked at him.

Holden looked at Zephyr confused. "Huh?"

"A lot of herbs are very useful in some situations, they're not just something that grows you know."

Holden looked back at the berry but he didn't scowl at it. Instead, he sighed and put the berry in its rightful place. "I probably wouldn't have liked it anyway…"

Marina then had a sad look on her face and Kassidy could tell that something was on her mind. Marina then flew up to Zephyr and landed on one of the boards near him. "Zephyr… do you know why the humans banded me? Is it actually a curse?"

"My child, the actions of the humans are inconsistent and… difficult to interpret. But perhaps your friends here will explain." Zephyr looked at Kassidy and Holden and Marina looked as well.

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other surprised that Zephyr knew that they were humans. They then looked back at Marina and Zephyr and they flew up to them and landed near Marina. "How'd you know we were humans?" Holden asked.

"Your scent is quite different from a bat's scent. When I caught yours and Kassidy's I knew there was something different about you two."

Kassidy looked at Marina and she put her arm around her shoulder. "Your band isn't a bad thing, Marina. It's actually a good thing. We, humans, do this because we're trying to help a lot of animals from not going extinct, like Brightwings."

Zephyr landed near them. "Marina, you are special but that has nothing to do with any bands." He then placed his claw on Marina's band.

Kassidy noticed that Shade was looking at them and as he did, Kassidy put her arm down from Marina's shoulder. Shade wasn't in a good mood and so she and her friends let him be until he was cooled down since yesterday's incident. She knew Shade was still mad at the pigeons and Brutus.

Zephyr then wobbled away and as he did, he then bumped into herbs that were hanging up near him but he ignored it and kept walking. Holden snorted at what just happened and Kassidy heard it and she smacked the back side of his head. Holden bared his teeth in pain and was trying not to say "Ow" as he rubbed the back side of his head. Holden then looked at Kassidy and she furrowed her brow at him.

Shade then landed beside them. "The old guy's as blind as a mole!"

Kassidy then turned her attention to Shade with her brow still furrowed. "Shade!"

"Technically, I'm blinder," Zephyr said not caring what Shade said.

"Who in their right mind would put a guy who can't see in charge of traffic control?" Shade then sat down frustrated.

"Would you stop acting like that?" Kassidy said. "Maybe hearing can sometimes be the best way of seeing, ever thought about that?"

Zephyr looked at Kassidy. "Incredible insight for one so young."

Shade had his back to everyone still frustrated with his arms crossed. "Tch."

"I heard that."

"Huh?" Shade then grumbled to himself still angry.

Holden crossed his arms. "Dude, take a chill pill will ya? You're acting childish right now."

Shade stood up and looked at Holden. "I'm not acting childish!"

"Right now you are."

Shade grumbled and turned away from Holden. "Whatever, I'm going to go test my wing. Maybe catch a bug or two."

Shade then flew to the throat of the gargoyle and made his way outside and Zephyr shook his head. Ever since yesterday, he's been acting somewhat distant lately and this made Kassidy rub her temples. She understood that he was still angry but Holden had a point when he said he needed to take a chill pill.

As Kassidy was thinking she then felt her burnt shoulder and she hissed, rubbing her shoulder. She almost forgot about it and so badly needed medicine for it. She then started to spit into her hand and rub the saliva onto her shoulder.

"I think you're going to need this for your shoulder," Zephyr said.

Kassidy looked at Zephyr and Kassidy couldn't believe what Zephyr had in his hand and she then smiled. "Aloe vera, just what I needed."

Zephyr handed the aloe vera to Kassidy and Kassidy took it. She then snapped a piece off the plant and started to apply the gel that was on the inside of it onto her shoulder and she sighed relived and it felt soothing on her shoulder. As she let the gel sooth her shoulder she then looked at Zephyr and thought he was really nice. She then thought of something and sighed at the thought of not having the time ask him something that was on her mind lately since they got here.

"Zephyr… do you despise me? A lot have been judging me lately because of how I look and… because I'm a witch."

Zephyr placed his hand on Kassidy's shoulder. "Despise is a strong word, my child. I may be blind but I know you have a good heart. A lot are just afraid because they're not used to new things or change. You by far are very different." Zephyr gently grabbed Kassidy's arm and inspected her tattoos and touched the bat and the skull with roses growing out of it and as he did the three friends watched. Zephyr then gently dropped her arm and then looked at her back and nodded while he looked at her tattoo and touched it. Finally he then looked at Kassidy's choker. "May I?"

Kassidy nodded and slipped her choker off her neck and gave it to Zephyr. He tapped his finger against the material of it and then gently and slowly stretched it and as he did the three friends looked at each other. Kassidy felt naked without her choker but she didn't let that bother her.

After Zephyr inspected her choker he then looked at Kassidy. "A strange feeling to this human design." He then looked at Kassidy's tattoos. "And I can feel the strange markings on you. Very fascinating."

He then handed Kassidy her choker and Kassidy slipped her choker back onto her neck. "The markings on me are called tattoos and the human design is called a choker." She said as she got her hair from out of the choker.

"Interesting names for what you have." Kassidy was glad that Zephyr didn't actually despise her. There were a lot of good people out there but not a whole lot. "I can also hear the magic that flows through your body."

Kassidy was surprised and so were Marina and Holden. She didn't even know he could hear her magic inside her and she didn't even know that could be a thing. She thought this bat was by far interesting. "You can hear my magic?"

Zephyr slowly nodded. "It flows and sounds like a river. When I heard the magic I could also hear something much louder than the gentleness of peaceful magic. I could hear the crackling of fire." Kassidy looked at the ground and as she did she sighed and rubbed her arm. "I can hear your sadness and anger at the same time and I can tell that you're afraid to show your true colors." Kassidy then felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see that it was Zephyr. "Some emotions will always find its way to break you but there are some you can't always hide."

Kassidy looked at her friends and they were looking at her concerned. She knew they had every right to be concerned about her. Some things have been bothering her and it's been eating her up on the inside. She also knew that Zephyr was right about her showing her true colors. If she ever showed the fire on her body as she got angry she didn't know what her friends would do. She didn't even want to know.

Zephyr's ears then flicked forward and he took off for the gargoyle's throat and landed near it and walked outside. Kassidy and her friends got confused and they followed Zephyr. When they got to Zephyr he was looking towards something and they didn't know what he was looking towards but when they looked they gasped. Pigeons were chasing a bat in the sky but it wasn't just any bat.

It was Shade.

The pigeons were chasing him though the city and Shade was having a hard time getting away from them and Kassidy could tell that he was getting out of breath. She cursed in her head and watched as the pigeons were chasing Shade.

"Smalls is getting chased by a pigeon gang," Holden shouted out loud.

"He needs help," Marina said.

Kassidy was about to take off to go help Shade, but Zephyr stopped her and he looked at her as she stared at him confused. "I'll handle this."

Zephyr walked a little more distance and as he did, the three friends saw Shade land under the ledge of a city building breathing hard and they saw the pigeons advance towards Shade. Kassidy then noticed Zephyr was doing something but she didn't know what but he was humming to himself and had his eyes closed. She looked from Shade to Zephyr a few times and then all the sudden a bat popped out of nowhere and that got the pigeons attention and they chased it. She couldn't get a good look at the bat as the pigeons were cooing and chasing the random bat. All the sudden the bat disappeared into thin air.

Kassidy shook her head surprised and she didn't see the bat anywhere in sight. Her friends were surprised as her. The pigeons were looking around them confused and didn't know where the bat went. Kassidy didn't know what to think right now. Did that bat have magic?

All the sudden the random bat popped out of nowhere again and he took off for a random direction and the pigeons chased him into the night. Kassidy opened her mouth and then she closed them as she saw as Shade made his way back to the cathedral. She then heard Zephyr laugh and he then flew back inside and as he did the three friends looked at each other confused.

"What just happened?" Holden asked.

"I… don't know," Kassidy said.

The three friends took off and made their way back inside and when they got back inside they landed next to Zephyr on a board. Kassidy was trying to think what just happened out there. A bat pops out of nowhere and then disappears. No one could do that… unless…

Kassidy looked at Zephyr and she knew Zephyr had something to do with this. It made sense, he was obviously doing something. It couldn't have been magic however, he didn't have the pentagram mark on his palm as she did. What did he do?

Shade came bursting in and he landed beside the three of them. "Did you guys see that? Some bat saved me!"

"Yeah, we saw it," Holden said. "It was weird, one minute that random bat dude was there and the next he wasn't like… he did the invisibility spell Kassidy was trying to do."

Kassidy shook her head and she crossed her arms. "I don't think so. I think there's something more to that." Kassidy looked at Zephyr. "You know how he did it, don't you?"

Zephyr turned to look at Kassidy and he smiled at her and that's all Kassidy had to know in order for her to know if she was right.

* * *

Yesterday was quite interesting for him to say the least. He never would have thought that he'd come across royalty one day but here he was right now in the big city with his wife now working together with a Vampyrum bat who happens to be a Prince with his brother-in-law. He thought it was by far so hilarious that a Prince like Goth had to have a brother-in-law like Throbb.

Martin was in a dark alleyway with Dianna and they were smoking on cigarettes. The taste was so satisfying to Martin and never once in his life had he have any problems from smoking. Martin sucked on his cigarette and then he held in the smoke and then after holding it in for a while he then blew it out. He then pictured a skull in his head, easily getting all the details right and then using the flick of his wrist he turned the smoke into a skull. The smoke skull then disappeared into thin air. Martin smirked at the creation he made.

"Aren't you a little old to be doing the easy tricks?" Dianna asked as she tapped her cigarette to get some of the ashes off her bud and even though she had long claws she always found her ways of doing things with her weapons.

Martin chuckled. "I'm never too old for anything, darling."

He and Dianna went their own way while Goth and Throbb went their own way and they all went hunting and find the four bats they were looking for. They all agreed that they would meet up sometime later. Martin then started to think about Kassidy. How that girl was smart and pretty strong and she kind of reminded him of himself when he was her age. That thought could only make him roll his eyes as he continued to smoke.

"So how about those two 'royalty' bats?" Dianna then started to laugh. "They really must've not been paying attention when those scientists took them, but I can see why they would've wanted to take them. I know I would've, considering I'm a scientist myself."

Dianna was a genius and she was by far the best scientist that Martin ever came across. She was known to be as the mad scientist because of her experiments and her creations she's been working on. She had a lot of experiment and creation ideas in her journals and notes and some of her creations were close to being completed.

"I can't imagine them surviving out here," Martin said as Dianna sucked on her cigarette. "You can even tell that they're actually getting cold right now."

Dianna puffed out smoke after holding it in for a while. "That's for sure, and already I don't like those two twerps. Maybe we should just kill them and look for those four kids ourselves."

They have gotten to know Goth and Throbb a little better yesterday and he and Dianna managed to talk about a little about themselves as well. What got on Martin's nerves however was when Goth mentioned Cama Zotz a lot. He knew who Cama Zotz was but he didn't care about who he was. Martin didn't mention that to Goth, however.

"Patience, love," Martin said. "Even though I already hate their guts as much as you do we could use the extra help. Besides, we already made a deal with them, but don't worry. We'll kill them when the deal is completed." Martin then gave Dianna an evil smile. "You know perfectly well how my deals can be and it makes me wonder what royal flesh tastes like."

Dianna smiled evilly and then she and Martin started to chuckle.

* * *

Kassidy was meditating on the ground and she was doing her breathing technique. She wanted to get back to practicing her magic but she wanted to calm down first before she got started. Everything was pretty quiet around her as she was meditating and it made her relax. As she was meditating, Holden and Marina were helping Zephyr with the herbs once again while Shade was roosting on a board all by himself. Kassidy asked Shade if he wanted to do this with her but he refused but Kassidy didn't push him to do it.

Her ears then flicked forward at the sound of cooing. Kassidy opened her eyes and she thought it was her mind playing tricks with her but she then heard the cooing again. She looked up but didn't see anything but she then looked to Shade and he was looking up confused. She knew he heard it too. Shade took off from his spot and made his way up and without hesitating, Kassidy stood up and followed Shade. Shade then landed on a beam higher up and Kassidy landed next to him. They both looked at each other and they both knew what they were thinking and they looked up.

Kassidy noticed that Holden and Marina landed near them and Holden was about to speak but Shade shushed him and he pointed up. Kassidy then saw a female pigeon walking on the beam and she had one of her wings on her other one. Kassidy was surprised but she could tell that something was wrong with the pigeon and from the looks of it she could see not only pain but fear in her eyes. She thought that something must've attacked her but how did she get in here?

Kassidy then saw Shade take off from his spot and he flew up to the pigeon. "You are one of those birds who tried to kill me out there."

The pigeon looked at Shade scared but shocked at the same time and Shade landed under a beam near the pigeon and Kassidy saw that there was something about Shade's expression that Kassidy knew was the one thing that she experienced a lot: anger. Kassidy had never seen Shade act like this and she knew that he wasn't acting like the Shade she knew.

"No… you're mistaken," the pigeon said innocently to Shade. "Can't you see? I'm hurt."

Kassidy could tell that Holden and Marina were shocked with what they were seeing. Kassidy wanted to help the pigeon, even if they were attacked by one. Shade, however, didn't change his expression and kept staring at the pigeon angrily.

"Owls probably killed my dad," Shade said as he crawled on the beam near the pigeon and the pigeon was backing away frightened. "They burned down my home and then you guys tried to kill me and my friends! I hate all birds!"

"Shade, stop it," Kassidy shouted. "Leave her alone!"

"Smalls, what are you, psycho?" Holden shouted.

The pigeon then all the sudden stepped on a board and it fell and the pigeon looked down and then looked back at Shade shaking. "Can't you see? I'm not a threat."

The board that the pigeon was standing on then started to break and Kassidy noticed it and gasped. She knew that if the pigeon moved even an inch the board would break and she would fall and she couldn't fly because of her injury. "Shade, it's not going to hold her weight there, you need to snap out of it!"

The pigeon was shaking as she looked down at the cracked board and then she looked back at Shade. "Please… I just came here to hide."

"Hide, from what?" Shade asked.

"G-Giant bats. They attacked my family."

Kassidy's eyes widened and she wondered who would've done this to that poor pigeon? Hegland… that pigeon… could it be that they were telling the truth? She thought it actually couldn't be true.

"Well they probably had a good reason," Shade shouted. "I know I would!"

"Shade, she's hurt!" Marina said. "Back off!"

The pigeon then moaned in pain and rubbed her wing more. "Please… don't you see what you're doing?"

Shade moved closer to her and didn't listen to what anyone had to say and then all the sudden the board under the pigeon broke and the pigeon fell and she cooed while screaming. Kassidy gasped as the pigeon fell as did Marina and Holden and as Kassidy saw the pigeon fell it brought back that horrible memory. That one memory that haunted her dreams sometimes. "No!"

Kassidy quickly used all the details she knew of the levitation spell and then she used her hands and focused them on the pigeon and as soon as she did the pigeon stopped falling. Kassidy breathed hard and as she did the pigeon looked around her confused and then she looked up and noticed Kassidy was doing it and she was surprised. Kassidy then gradually brought the pigeon to the nearest beam and gently placed her down. Kassidy then quickly took off and made her way to the pigeon and as she did, Holden and Marina followed her. They all then landed near the pigeon and looked at her worried.

"Are you alright?" Kassidy asked.

The pigeon slowly nodded at Kassidy. "Yes… thank you…" The pigeon then passed out.

Kassidy was breathing hard again at what she just saw. She couldn't believe that someone was about to die again and she couldn't let that happen. She couldn't believe what Shade did.

The three of them then heard landing and they turned around to see that it was Shade and this time he wasn't angry. Instead he was shocked and worried at the same time for the pigeon. He looked at Kassidy. "Is… she alright?"

Kassidy could feel her blood boil and she looked at Shade furiously and she walked up to Shade and Shade looked at her nervously. "What were you thinking?"

"Kass… I can explain-"

"Didn't you see she was hurt? How could you? She would've died, Shade, if I wasn't there to save her!"

"I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me I just-"

"She was innocent!" All the sudden Kassidy didn't realize that flames were bursting all over her body and Shade gasped. "Seeing her almost die is too much to bear! Why were you blind and deaf to not see and hear what was happening?! Are you really that heartless?! Seeing her almost die reminds me of what happened to my parents!"

Kassidy all the sudden realized what was happening and she was shocked. The flames on her died down and she saw not only Shade but Holden and Marina looking at her shocked. She breathed hard and she backed away slowly and then she took off for the gargoyle's throat and flew outside and she flew as far and as fast as she could possibly go.

* * *

Holden stared to where Kassidy flew out shocked by what just happened. He couldn't believe that fire spread all over her body like she was actually a devil. This explained why she was breathing a lot when she looked like she was about to get too mad. Also what Zephyr said about him hearing more of the crackling of fire rather than the peaceful magic. He couldn't believe he didn't realize this before. Who was he kidding? He doesn't realize a lot.

Zephyr landed on the beam the three friends were on and wobbled over to the pigeon and felt the wing that was hurt. Holden looked at the pigeon and he felt sorry for the pigeon. Whoever attacked her and her family must've been pretty big to have hurt and scare her. She said it was giant bats but Holden didn't believe that there were giant bats. He wanted to believe that what these pigeons were saying about giant bats weren't true.

"How's her wing?" Holden asked.

Zephyr looked at Holden. "She'll be alright, her wing is sprained is all but I'm sure I'll be able to fix it."

"Did you see-uh hear that?" Marina asked.

Zephyr looked at Marina. "I heard two young bats blinded by their anger. Then I saw something change in them." Zephyr then turned to look at Shade and he pointed his finger at him. "You must never underestimate the power of a kind act. Even towards one's enemy, real or imagined." Shade looked down guilty and as he did, Marina put her hand on his shoulder. Zephyr closed his eyes and he breathed. "Kassidy couldn't hold her anger and I fear it's because of something tragic she went through… but know I don't believe she intended on scaring any of you."

The three friends looked at each other. Holden wondered what Kassidy could possibly have gone through to get her this upset. He then thought about what she said about her parents when she yelled at Shade. He thought that maybe it had something to do with that.

Shade sighed. "I can't believe Kassidy could do that whenever she gets angry… she hates me now…"

"Shade, that's not true," Marina said.

Shade looked at Marina. "You saw how angry she was and I don't blame her, I would be too if I was her. This is my fault…"

Holden looked to the gargoyle's throat and thought long and hard until he knew what he had to do. He looked back at Shade and Marina. "I'm going to go find Kassidy, you guys stay here."

With that, Holden took off and he set his way to go find Kassidy.

* * *

**A/N- Well that's chapter 17 everyone. There's really not much to say but I think Kassidy and Holden will have a nice talk in the next chapter.**

**The OC characters are mine and the other following characters belong to the owners themselves.**


	18. You Should Be Dancing

**Chapter 18**

**You Should Be Dancing**

* * *

She didn't dare look back. She kept flying a far distance but she made sure to stay in the darkness as she flew. She kept flying until she was fully out of breath and when she was she landed on top of one of the buildings. She slowly breathed and was trying to calm down but she didn't feel calm.

How could she let her anger snap? She tried and she tried but she knew she couldn't hide it anymore. Now her friends knew she could burst into flames when she got angry and now she felt foolish for letting it happen. What did they think of her now? Did they now think of her as a demon like the other animals did?

She clutched her head as she paced back and forth. She couldn't stop thinking about their reactions. The way they looked at her was like they were seeing a whole new stranger in front of their eyes. She couldn't stand that fact. She felt like disappearing from this world now.

After a while of pacing, she then sat down with her head down and her ears flat on her head as she heard the sounds of honking in the streets below her but it didn't comfort her. She hugged her knees as she felt the wind blow in her direction but she didn't mind how cold it felt. All she could do was sit in silence and think about what just happened.

Then she heard a whoosh and she heard someone get next to her and when she looked up to see who it was she saw it was Holden. Kassidy was surprised to see him here after what just happened. Holden was looking at her concerned but shocked at the same time. "Hey."

Kassidy looked down guilty. "You don't have to try and be nice to me. Whatever negative comments you got in that little mind of yours you can just say them right now…"

She didn't have to look to know what Holden was doing because she could tell that he was now sitting next to her. "I just came here to see if you were alright."

Kassidy felt more surprised but she didn't look at Holden. "Why? Aren't you scared of what I did back there?"

"Well… I was but that doesn't mean I want to stay away from you."

There was then a moment of silence and Kassidy thought that this was awkward. She didn't know what to say no matter what she tried to think of. She kept staring down though and didn't want to look at Holden.

"So…" Holden said breaking the silence. "Is this is why you keep taking deep breaths a lot?"

Kassidy knew that Holden actually knew but she decided to answer anyways. "Yeah…"

"Why didn't you say anything about it?"

"I just… I just didn't want to scare you guys and I was afraid that if you guys knew you guys would look at me like I'm a…"

She didn't want to say what some of those animals have been calling her. Couldn't they see that she was no threat? She obviously knew that some wouldn't believe her. Brutus didn't see that, Bathsheba didn't see that, the three Graywings didn't see that, and neither did the pigeons. How many more did she need to try to convince that she was no threat?

"When you were yelling at Shade… you mentioned your parents," Holden said. "You barely mention them." Kassidy breathed and still didn't look at Holden. "You wanna talk about it?"

"It's… it's complicated," Kassidy said.

"You can tell me. I mean I told you about my Mom… please?"

Kassidy sighed and knew she should get even with Holden since he told her about his Mom. She didn't want to but she knew she had to. "I didn't always live in Canada… I used to live in America in the state of Ohio with my parents. My parents were the best and since I was their only child I was pretty much spoiled a lot." Kassidy smiled weakly at the good memories with her parents. "They taught me a lot like how to be a witch and I'd want to learn something new from them a lot." Kassidy's smile then went down. "But they never got the chance to finish teaching me how to be a witch."

Kassidy could feel Holden's eyes staring at her and she tried not to look. She hugged her knees tighter. "One day we were leaving a bookstore and I bought a book I so badly wanted to buy for a long time and as my Dad pulled out of the bookstore something went wrong with the breaks. My Dad passed a red light when he was trying to step on the breaks but they wouldn't work and we were approaching another traffic light and the breaks still didn't work. Then this huge truck was driving forward and then the next thing I know I wake up in a hospital bed. I saw a doctor looking down at me and when I asked about my parents he told me… they didn't make it."

Kassidy then felt tears pour down her face as she remembered hearing her parents have passed away. She hated to cry at any point. She especially hated to cry in front of other people.

"Kass… are you crying?" Holden asked.

"No…" Kassidy tried to hide her face as she wiped away her tears. "I just got something in my eye…"

It was, of course, a lie. She thought crying never solved anyone's problems but here she was on a building right now weeping. She then knew though that it was better to let things out rather than keeping them to yourself.

"Come on." Holden took off and Kassidy looked at him confused as he started to fly somewhere.

Kassidy took off and started to follow him in the city. "Where are we going?"

Holden smiled at her. "You'll see."

* * *

Goth was finishing down a rat he caught earlier on the rooftops of the city and Throbb was looking around him. As Goth finished his rat he began to think about the bats Martin mentioned. Martin gave them descriptions of what they looked like and Goth thought it wouldn't be hard to find them. Three of them were Silverwings while one of them was a Brightwing. All they had to do was find their scents and see if what they looked like matched the description Martin said.

Goth then began to wipe his mouth and as he did he felt Throbb tapping his shoulder. "Goth, look."

Goth looked at Throbb and he was pointing at something and when Goth looked to where Throbb was pointing he saw two bats flying by them. He stepped closer to the rooftop to look at the bats more closely and he saw that both of them were Silverwings. He couldn't fully catch a glimpse of what they looked like but he thought that maybe these were two of the Silverwings that Martin mentioned and if he was right he didn't want to lose them. Goth spread opened his huge wings and then he took off and Throbb trailed right behind and then they started to follow the two Silverwings in silence.

* * *

Holden kept leading the way to somewhere but Kassidy kept silent and let him lead her to where they were going. They flew in the darkness and kept out of the lights. They were lucky enough they hadn't run into any pigeons and it was definitely a good thing.

As they kept flying, Kassidy then started to hear some music sounding in the distance and it was pretty catchy. As the music got louder she then saw people on a building rooftop and what she saw was a party. People were in some pretty good outfits and they were dancing. She saw that these people were having the best times of their lives.

Holden landed on a building that was a little higher up from the party and Kassidy landed next to him and they watched the party. Kassidy then looked at Holden. "How'd you know about this place?"

Holden smiled at Kassidy. "I was hunting when I found it and boy I was excited when I saw they were having a party here."

"So why'd you bring me here?"

"To have some fun, you need to take your mind off this whole situation and I think some dancing ought to cheer you up."

Kassidy crossed her arms. "I don't dance in front of anyone."

Holden laughed. "Well since you're going to help me with my school work I'm going to help you have some fun. Just ignore what's around you and don't be a party pooper."

Holden then started to dance to the beat. Kassidy watched as Holden was dancing and she hated to admit it but he was a pretty good dancer. He was dancing these crazy moves that looked pretty complicated but he made it look easy. She thought he must've known a lot of moves because he was like Michael Jackson.

Holden looked at Kassidy as he was dancing. "Come on, get in the groove! Dance like you mean it!"

Kassidy still didn't get into it and she kept on watching Holden. She didn't like to dance in front of people and it made her feel insecure like when she went to a wedding on her Mom's side of the family. She remembered when her Mom urged her to come dance with her but she really didn't want to but her Mom found a way to make her come dance with her and boy was she embarrassed when she was dancing with her Mom. Even though it was embarrassing back then for her she now thought it was hilarious.

"Nice dancing, Silverwing," Holden stopped dancing to the sound of a masculine voice and he and Kassidy looked up to see two bats their age gliding above them with smiles on their faces. "I like the way you move, bro."

"Uh…thanks, man," Holden said smiling at them.

The two bats then landed near them. One was a male while the other was a female. The male bat had brown hair in dreadlocks, a bronze mane, yellow eyes, and he was a slate gray color. He had a silver earring in his ear and a gold chain around his neck and he looked like one of those rappers. The female bat next to him had long seaweed green hair in dreadlocks like him, a moss green mane, yellow eyes, and was a jade color. She had a few piercings in her ears and they were in silver and gold colors. Kassidy then noticed that they both had silver bands on their forearms like Marina.

When Kassidy got a better look at them she could tell that the male was a Graywing and how she could tell was obviously the wings. She looked at the female and she could probably guess that she was a Greenwing. She didn't know if she got that right but she was pretty sure she was right.

"My name's Sekani," the male bat said, "and I'm a Graywing." He then gestured to his friend. "And this is Jade, she's a Greenwing."

_Called it, _Kassidy thought.

"Cool meeting you, bro," Holden said. "I'm Holden," he then gestured to Kassidy, "and this is Kassidy but she goes for Kass for short."

Sekani and Jade looked at Kassidy and their eyes widened. Kassidy sighed in frustration and waited for those two to get on with saying those things the animals have been saying to her. "Sekani," the female named Jade said, "she looks awesome!"

Kassidy looked at Jade surprised and did not expect her to say that. "R-Really?"

"Yeah, girl, you totally look like Joan Jett."

Kassidy was surprised that Jade even knew who Joan Jett was. "You know who Joan Jett is?"

"Yeah, we know all of her songs. We were in an enclosure since we were pups and when we were pups we were given these bands." Jade showed her band to Kassidy. "As we were living in our enclosure we were learning about these humans and it's crazy to think about but we've learned a lot from them."

"I can tell."

"So how do you know about Joan Jett?" Sekani asked.

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other and they then looked back at Sekani and Jade. Kassidy thought they looked friendly enough since they didn't judge her. She also thought they looked pretty cool. "Funny you should ask that because… we're actually humans."

Sekani and Jade looked at each other and then they started to laugh. "Seriously-" Sekani continued to laugh, "how do you know about her?"

Kassidy sighed. "Well, I guess I better prove to you guys that we're humans."

Kassidy lifted her hand out and as she did she concentrated on making a bright orb in her hand getting all the details right and as soon as she did a bright orb formed in her hand like she was holding the sun and this made Sekani and Jade gasp. She then demolished the orb and as she did she could hear Holden laughing. Sekani and Jade looked shocked but they didn't fly off.

Sekani and Jade got closer to Kassidy. "That was… awesome!" Sekani said and he and Jade started to smile. "You have magic!"

"She sure does, bro," Holden said. "We're humans like she said."

"We want the full story on how you two are humans," Jade said. "Start from the beginning."

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other and then looked back at Sekani and Jade and they started to tell them the full story and as they were telling the story Sekani and Jade were in awe. They told them about the car crash, the transformation, looking at the sun, the burning of Tree Haven, the migration, how they got separated from the colony, and much more. They asked them some questions and Kassidy and Holden answered them the best they could. Kassidy and Holden also asked Sekani and Jade some questions as well and Sekani and Jade didn't hesitate to answer their questions. They found out that Sekani and Jade grew up without parents but they grew up together and they were the best of friends. It was sad to Kassidy that Sekani and Jade didn't know about their parents but they seemed to be fine.

They also found out that Sekani and Jade were released from their enclosure some time ago in the spring and when they were they were traveling from place to place to find a colony to join but whenever they found a colony the colony they found would neglect them or drive them off because of their bands. Since then they decided to be independent and not worry about being in a colony. They decided that they wanted to be the independent fun bats and have the best times of their lives.

"Wow that's something," Holden said.

"Yeah, but you guys were pretty brave to look at the sun," Sekani said. "It's stupid though that those birds think that it was you and your colony that killed those pigeons. I don't believe that you guys are killer bats."

"Thanks," Kassidy said, "but the weird thing is that a couple of pigeons said that they saw _giant_ bats."

Jade got confused. "Giant bats? That's impossible, how do those pigeons know they saw giant bats? Are they sure it wasn't just their imaginations?"

"That's the problem though, I'm not sure if I should believe them or not. You should've seen the fear in their eyes. Whatever they saw must've scared them. The only guesses I can make are either they saw an animal that looked like a bat or like you said it was just their imaginations."

"Well whatever the case the birds have gone crazy," Sekani said. "I think this may be the first time we had talks like this with anyone."

"Yeah, it's been mostly the same thing with me," Kassidy said. "A lot have criticized me because I'm a witch and because I'm gothic."

"I don't know about you girl but them animals got the wrong idea about you like they got the wrong idea about us," Jade said. "The world is full of rude animals."

Another song then started to play at the party and it had a nice beat to it. Holden then whooped. "This is my jam."

Holden then started to dance and as he did, Sekani and Jade whooped for him. "Holden's the bat!" Sekani shouted and then he and Jade started to dance.

Kassidy watched as the three of them were dancing and they were laughing as they were dancing. Holden then looked at Kassidy. "Come on, it's fun!"

Jade looked at Kassidy. "Come on girl!" Jade then grabbed Kassidy's hand and then pulled her and then she started to dance again as Kassidy looked at her. "You should be dancing!"

Kassidy smiled weakly and she couldn't believe she was about to do this. If Holden wanted her to have fun then she didn't want to disappoint him. She then started to tap her foot and then she slowly started to dance and then she started to dance crazily. She heard Holden, Sekani, and Jade whoop for her as she danced and they all laughed.

"Yeah, girl," Jade said. "That's what I'm talking about!"

"Yeah, Kass," Holden said. "You're dancing!"

"You're on fire, Kass!" Sekani said.

They continued to dance and Kassidy couldn't believe that this was actually fun. This might be the best party she ever danced in. Her worries faded and she kept on dancing. She was smiling and as she was smiling she began to glow. Holden, Sekani, and Jade stopped dancing and looked at her. Kassidy noticed it and stopped smiling. The glow on her then faded.

"My bad," Kassidy said.

The three of them then smiled at Kassidy. "No need to say that, girl," Jade said. "I think you're just having too much fun." They all then laughed. "It's pretty cool though that you can do that."

"When I smile too much I glow like this."

They all then continued to dance and after a while they then called it a night and flew into the city and they chatted and laughed more. Kassidy offered these two to come with them but they politely refused and said that there was much more they wanted to see. They reminded Kassidy of that movie Aladdin with that one scene where Aladdin and Jasmine were exploring different places on the magic carpet. She thought that Sekani and Jade would be a nice couple.

"Well it was great knowing you guys," Sekani said.

"You guys sure you don't want to come with us?" Kassidy asked. "I'm sure Frieda would offer to let you guys join the colony."

"Nah, that's okay. Maybe another time though."

"Yeah, but maybe we'll see each other soon," Jade said.

"Well if you guys insist," Holden said.

"Good luck."

"Same with you guys," Kassidy said. Sekani and Jade then flew off into the night and Kassidy and Holden started to make their way back to the cathedral. Kassidy then smiled weakly at Holden. "Hey, thanks. You were right, I needed that."

Holden looked at Kassidy and laughed. "Told you didn't I?"

"Yup, you told me."

They continued to fly for the cathedral until they heard cooing behind them. Kassidy and Holden's eyes were widened. "Please tell me it's not what I think it is…" Holden said nervously.

Kassidy and Holden looked behind them and they gasped when they saw three pigeons following them and they looked angry. Kassidy cussed and she and Holden flew faster into the city. She was having too much fun that she didn't even think about flying in the darkness. "Don't let them escape," one of the pigeons shouted.

Kassidy looked back at the pigeons and then she looked down at the cars that were driving in the street. She knew this was going to be suicide but she knew she had to distract the pigeons somehow without harming them with her magic. She then looked at Holden. "Holden, get back to the cathedral, I'll hold off the pigeons."

Holden looked at her shocked. "Are you crazy?"

"Just go!"

Without arguing Holden flew ahead of Kassidy and as he did, Kassidy stopped in midflight in front of the pigeons and then she flew up and flew around them in circles and then the pigeons started to chase her. Kassidy beat her wings as fast as she could and then she dove for the streets. She sped past cars and as she did she could feel her heart racing and she hoped she wouldn't get smashed by one of these vehicles. She could hear the pigeons' angry cooing as she kept flying and in a fast move, she dove downwards more and was now flying under the vehicles and as she did she noticed that one of the pigeons slammed right onto the front window of one of the vehicles but the other two pigeons kept chasing her. She focused on not getting hit by anything and then in the right timing she veered to the right and kept flying and she looked behind her to see that the pigeons were still following her.

Kassidy cursed and she tried to think of a better idea but it was hard for her to think since she was about to get caught by those pigeons. She tried not to let it bother her and she kept flying. She then saw a building somewhat far from her but this gave her an interesting idea. She looked back at the pigeons and then she picked up her speed and she flew very fast and only kept her eyes on the building. She kept her breathing and heartbeats steady and if she timed it correctly she'd be able to get rid of them.

She kept flying and flying until in the right timing she landed on the building and then she jumped off it and did a backward flip in the sky and as she did the pigeons sped by her fast and then the pigeons smashed onto the building. Kassidy then regained her flight and as she did she saw the pigeons slowly slide down the building and without wasting any time she began to make her way back to the cathedral without looking back. It was exhilarating what she just did but she smiled on the inside and focused on getting back to the cathedral.

* * *

Goth and Throbb followed the female Silverwing and then they saw her enter through the mouth of a beast that they never have seen before. They roosted on a nearby building and stared at the beast that stood atop of this mysterious building of the humans'. Goth thought this thing couldn't be alive if that Silverwing entered through it. He then thought it must be some sort of secret hideout for her and her friends. There was no way though that they would enter through that beast because they couldn't fit through.

He then thought about the Silverwing female and he and Throbb were impressed by what she did to get away from those pigeons. There was so much determination in her that he didn't even see any fear in her eyes. She didn't even have to use magic to get away from the pigeons.

They managed to catch the Silverwings' names, Holden and Kassidy. Goth repeated the name Kassidy in his head and to him, it was a very nice name for a female bat like her. They didn't catch a lot of conversation those two were having with two other bats because of the very loud noises coming from those pesky humans and their pesky machines but they thought they heard something about humans and such. But that really didn't matter but what mattered was now they knew where those four bats were hiding. However he couldn't get over the female bat named Kassidy, the drawings on her were quite interesting to him, to say the least and that thing around her neck looked interesting as well. Her hair was the bloodiest red as if she was actually bleeding from the head and everything about her made her look like a dark angel.

Goth and Throbb were watching her, Holden, and their new so-called friends "dancing" a while ago and as they did they saw Kassidy glowing like a star and it made Goth want to gasp but he found that his voice was stuck in his throat. The way she glowed could only make Goth keep staring at her in awe as if he was staring at a goddess. Her smile though was very radiant and it was rather very nice and her eyes were as blue as the ocean. He couldn't believe he was thinking this but it was true.

She was beautiful.

He then shook his head and growled under his breath. _No! _He thought. _She must've done some sort of spell to make me think this! Stop thinking about her!_

But he couldn't because she only came into his mind. Goth was glad that Throbb didn't notice because he didn't even want to talk about what he was thinking. He then thought he must've been overreacting because Martin did tell them that she wasn't really experienced enough with magic so maybe she didn't do some sort of spell to make Goth think this. He just didn't know but was it really a bad thing he was thinking about this?

"Well done looks like you found where they were hiding," Goth and Throbb jumped to the sound of Martin and they turned around to see Martin and Dianna.

Goth was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even hear them coming. "How'd you find us?"

Martin chuckled. "I always have my ways of finding anyone. Plus I've got eyes, ears, and a nose let's not forget."

Goth felt like an idiot for even asking that question. Of course, it was their senses, thinking about that witch probably messed up his brain somewhat.

"I want bats," Throbb said.

"And you'll get your bats," Martin said. "But not just yet."

"When though?"

"When the timing is right."

Dianna smirked at her husband. "I think they'll be in for a big surprise when they get to meet us."

Martin smirked at his wife. "Indeed they will, dear and it'll be a surprise they'll never forget."

Goth looked back at the beast and waited for all four of the bats to come out and when they did he'd be ready.

* * *

**A/N- Well that takes care of chapter 18 and to be honest I had a lot of fun writing this one. I wanted to focus on Kassidy and Holden bonding more and what better way of bonding than dancing? I chose You Should Be Dancing for this chapter title because for one: there's dancing and two: the song You Should Be Dancing by Bee Gees inspired me to call it this title and as I was listening to it I could see Kassidy, Holden, Sekani, and Jade dancing to it. Also Joan Jett has some really good songs and if you haven't listened to her music then I recommend you go check them out.**

**Also, Sekani and Jade will be back soon so be ready when they come back. That's all I wanted to say and chapter 19 will be here soon.**


	19. Knowledge of the Mind

**Chapter 19**

**Knowledge of the Mind**

* * *

Kassidy landed on one of the larger beams that her friends and Zephyr were on when she made it back inside the gargoyle statue. It was hard to believe that she actually managed to trick the pigeons. It was also hard to believe that she didn't even need to use her magic. She was slowly breathing trying to catch her breath and as she did she then saw her friends looking at her.

"Kass," all three of them said and then they flew over to her and then landed near her. Holden landed behind her while Marina landed next to her with Shade by her side.

Kassidy saw that all three of them were looking at her worried. Marina then hugged Kassidy. "Kass, you alright?"

"I'm fine, Marina," Kassidy said.

"Holden told us that you guys got chased by pigeons and then he told us that you were distracting them. We were worried the pigeons caught you."

"Hey, no one's taking me anywhere. I'm a fighter and I can fight my way through things."

"Wait, you fought off those pigeons?" Holden asked. "All three of them?"

Kassidy looked at Holden as Marina stopped hugging her. "I actually didn't fight them or use my magic on them. Rather I used my wits to outsmart them so I could get away."

Holden was looking at Kassidy with his eyes widened but in an inspiring way like he was staring at his idol. "Kass, you are very surprising a lot."

Kassidy then noticed Shade standing off to the side looking at her guilty. He had his ears drooped to the sides of his head. Holden and Marina noticed that Shade was staring at Kassidy and when they did, Shade slowly made his way to Kassidy. When he got to her he looked down at the ground and sighed. After a few seconds of silence, he then looked back up at Kassidy.

"Kass… I'm sorry for what I did," Shade said quietly. "I really didn't mean to I just… I just don't know what came over me…"

Kassidy looked at Shade sadly and she knew she couldn't stay mad at him for long. Like her he's been through a lot and he lost a Dad that he never even got to meet. If she didn't apologize now she may never get the chance to do so later.

Kassidy then sighed. "It's okay, Shade… I know you're just upset at how the owls and pigeons were treating us. I'm sorry for yelling at you."

Shade looked at Kassidy surprised. "Really?"

Kassidy weakly smiled. "Yeah, but aren't you and Marina scared of what I did?"

Shade smiled weakly. "It was surprising but we know you didn't mean to do that. Besides I deserved to be yelled at."

Kassidy's smile turned into a friendlier one. "Yes, yes you did."

Shade shook his head as if he heard someone say the sky was yellow. "Hey!"

Kassidy then laughed. "I'm just kidding, come here." She then hugged Shade and Shade hugged her back. "You do realize though you need to apologize to the pigeon as well."

"I know."

"Good, then you know."

Kassidy and Shade then heard Marina clear her throat and they looked at her. "Okay, now that you two made up we should probably talk about why Kassidy mentioned her parents." She then looked at Kassidy. "That's if you want to though."

Kassidy and Shade got out of their hug and he and Marina were waiting for Kassidy to answer. Kassidy looked at Holden and he nodded his head for her approval. Kassidy crossed her arms and sighed but then looked back at Shade and Marina. "It's okay, I'll tell you."

She then went on to tell the same story she told to Holden and as she did, Shade and Marina listened and didn't interrupt her but they were shocked when she got to the part of her finding out that her parents died. She also told them why she hid this secret from them. This time she even managed not to cry. Holden was standing by sadly listening to the story again but he kept supporting her as she continued with the story without speaking. Kassidy then finished her story and she waited for Shade and Marina to respond.

Shade then flew over to Kassidy's other side and he placed his hand on Kassidy's shoulder as did Marina on her other shoulder. "Your parents must've meant something to you," Marina said. "Even though my parents didn't do anything to help me at least you had parents that cared a lot about you."

"Exactly," Shade said, "and you also at least have some good memories to cherish."

Kassidy smiled weakly at Shade and Marina. "Thanks, guys." The three of them then hugged. They then got out of their hug after a while. "So what happened while Holden and I were gone?"

"I was gonna ask the same thing," Holden said as he got next to Kassidy.

Shade and Marina looked over next to them and they were smiling at Zephyr. He was standing off to the side but Kassidy knew he was listening-he after all had incredible hearing. Kassidy and Holden looked at each other confused because they had no idea why they were smiling at Zephyr. Shade and Marina looked back at them.

"Nothing much, really," Shade said and Kassidy saw that something was up because Shade and Marina looked like they were trying to hold in their laughter.

"What?" Holden said.

Kassidy then saw a feathery wing near and then she also saw another wing next to Holden and Kassidy thought she was hallucinating. But sure enough, when she and Holden turned to see what it was it was a pigeon. She and Holden yelped and they jumped away from the pigeon and then Kassidy pictured fire in her hands getting every detail right and then fire formed in her hands. She was about to use the fire to chase off the pigeon but all of a sudden the pigeon just disappeared into thin air.

Literally disappeared into thin air.

Then to Kassidy's surprise, Zephyr started to laugh and so did Shade and Marina. Kassidy and Holden looked at each other even more confused and then they looked back at the three of them and Shade and Marina were still laughing their heads off.

"Why are you guys laughing?" Holden asked. "There was a pigeon here." He then looked around him. "Where'd it even go?"

Kassidy's eyes widened and she looked at Zephyr and then she diminished the fire from her hands. She didn't know if it was what she thought he did but she had a feeling that what he did was something a moth could do. "That bat we saw disappear outside… that pigeon that disappeared as well… Zephyr were those… were those echo projections?"

Zephyr nodded his head.

"Holy migraine," Holden said, not cussing for once. "That was awesome! Can you teach me to do that?"

Shade smiled at Holden. "That's the best part. He's going to teach us how to do it!"

"Now hold on boys," Zephyr said and the boys looked at him. "You need to listen to what I'm about to say. What I have to show you, you must be ready to see. Only one in a million bats can echo project."

Holden whistled a low whistle. "Damn, and to think I can't even do calculus."

"Calculus?" Marina said.

"It's a subject in school that we humans need to learn about," Kassidy said. "We always need numbers to help us out."

Zephyr then cleared his throat to get the four friends' attention. "First, there are a few skills that you need to master."

"Like what?" Shade flew over to Zephyr and landed near him as Zephyr was sorting through some more herbs.

"Oh, like uh… sound mapping, uh… star navigation, and uh… herbal remedies."

"Wait a minute," Holden said as he flew over to Shade and landed next to him a little irritated. "We need to learn about that stuff? Come on, man, I don't wanna learn about that stuff. I'm already stuck with the worst stuff to learn about I don't need to be stuck with learning more stuff that's going to make my brain explode."

Zephyr looked at Holden. "You must have patience, Holden. The more patient you are the more likely you'll get to the best parts."

Kassidy knew that if Holden wanted to improve at school he needed to put a lot of effort into it. She also knew Zephyr was right about having patience. When she and Holden got back home she was definitely going to make sure Holden meant what he said about improving himself. She was going to help him get all his late work turned in and help him get better grades, besides this lesson might even do him some good.

"What do I do if I get cornered by an owl?" Shade asked. "Throw leaves at him?"

Shade and Holden then started to laugh but the rest didn't. Kassidy rolled her eyes and knew that the boys had to be serious about this. She and Marina flew over to Zephyr and landed next to him and when they did, Zephyr used his echo vision on Shade and a book that was sticking out.

"You obviously cannot use your size to overpower the enemy," Zephyr said.

"He's sensitive about his size," Marina whispered to Zephyr.

"She's not even joking," Kassidy whispered to Zephyr.

Zephyr then looked at the boys and walked over to them. "The more you know. The better chance you'll have against much stronger opponents."

Holden rolled his eyes and he crossed his arms. "Tch."

Without even realizing it, Zephyr put his leg behind Holden's leg and he pushed him and Holden yelped and he fell to the ground. Shade looked at Zephyr surprised at what he did and Kassidy knew that neither he nor Holden saw it coming. Holden looked at Zephyr surprised. "Do you understand?" Zephyr asked.

"Oh… I think I get it," Holden said as he then smiled. "I'm ready."

Shade helped Holden up and then he smiled at Zephyr. "So am I."

Kassidy and Marina smiled at each other and looked back at the others. "I think we all are," Kassidy said.

Zephyr then smiled at the four friends. "Then let us begin."

* * *

A couple of nights have passed and Zephyr taught the four friends the skills they needed to learn on their journey and there was a lot to learn. Kassidy made sure to do the sight-seeing spell on her friends and she was glad of doing that. Shade apologized to the pigeon and she accepted his apology and that satisfied Kassidy and the four friends then found out her name was Grace. The four of them were hanging under the inside of the gargoyle's mouth as Zephyr was teaching his lesson to them. Kassidy and Marina were getting most of the answers correct and the boys were really not happy about them being star students.

Zephyr was teaching them some herbs and even though Kassidy knew all of them she wanted to at least make sure she didn't forget about them. Zephyr then showed them another herb and Kassidy smirked as she crossed her arms and she knew what it was but she decided to let someone else answer.

"Stinging nettle," Marina answered with a smile.

Shade looked at Marina with his eyes narrowed. "H-Hey! I was going to say that." Shade protested.

"Sure you were," Kassidy said.

"I was!"

"This isn't even any fair," Holden said frowning. "This is like Mr. Francis's biology class all over again."

"Used for what?" Zephyr asked as he looked between the boys. "Shade? Holden?"

Holden and Shade looked at each other and didn't answer. Kassidy then sighed. "It's obviously for aching joints."

"Oh, come on, Kass" Holden shouted. "That was at the tip of my tongue! He didn't even ask you!"

Kassidy looked at Holden. "Well someone had to answer eventually."

"Maybe if you paid attention more and not complain you'd be getting some of these answers right," Marina said.

"Up top," Kassidy and Marina then high foured each other.

"Oh, yeah," Holden said mockingly as he turned his scarred back to everyone. "That herb will so be useful. When I'm a grandpa!"

"We've been at this almost two full nights and you still haven't gotten around to echo projections," Shade said. "Just constellations and boring herbs."

Zephyr picked up another herb and then he poked holes through it. "Boys, you will need this knowledge for the journey ahead." Zephyr then extended the leaf towards the four friends. "What is it?"

Holden looked at the herb annoyed. "A leaf?"

"And?" Marina took the leaf from Zephyr and the four of them inspected it. They then smiled at each other and they all knew what they were thinking. Marina held up the leaf towards the sky and when she did they could see stars through the holes Zephyr poked through. "Well done. The four of you are beginning to use your brains."

The four of them looked back at Zephyr. "Now can I learn echo projection?" Shade asked. Zephyr used his finger to indicate to them to follow him and he wobbled into the throat of the gargoyle. Shade swung his fist into the air as he smiled. "Alright!"

The rest smiled as well and they took off from their roost and followed Zephyr back inside the gargoyle.

* * *

"Capture the object with your heart," Zephyr began with the echo projection lesson and the four friends were sitting down listening to Zephyr. "Listen to it form in your imagination. Once you can hear it, sing it."

Shade immediately went to go first. He closed his eyes and had his claws on the sides of his head. Kassidy, Holden, and Marina waited to see what would happen as Shade scrunched his eyes as he was trying to conjure something. They waited… and they waited… and they waited. Still, nothing seemed to have happened.

"Can you see it?" Shade asked.

"See what?" Marina asked.

"A… a giant bat, like the gargoyles… uh… huge claws and teeth?"

The three of them looked around and saw nothing. Kassidy knew Shade was trying too hard. "Yeah, that would be a no," she said.

Shade opened his eyes and he narrowed them and grunted.

"Alright, my turn," Holden said. Holden scrunched his eyes closed and he then put his claws on the sides of his head and began to concentrate on trying to conjure something. They waited, but like the echo projection Shade tried to conjure, they saw nothing. "Can you see mine?"

"What are we supposed to be seeing?" Kassidy asked.

"It's supposed to be me," Holden said. "You know a tall, handsome human version of me."

The three friends looked at each other and then they looked back at Holden. "Yeah, no," Marina said. "No human version of you here."

Holden opened his eyes and he grunted with his eyes narrowed.

Kassidy hummed to herself and thought about how she wanted to do her echo projection. It was kind of like magic but a whole lot different. She had to concentrate on what she wanted but she wanted something simple. She then closed her eyes and before she began she took a couple of long deep breaths and then slowly exhaled. After that, she placed her claws on the sides on her head and focused on autumn leaves falling with their colorful red, orange, and yellow mixed together as she hummed. She imagined the way they were falling slowly just waiting to reach the ground to make the ground an even more colorful environment.

Then suddenly leaves started to fall around the four friends and Holden, Shade, and Marina gasped as the echo projection of leaves was falling everywhere and Kassidy couldn't even see them. She then opened her eyes and as she did her echo projection disappeared. She looked at her friends and they looked amazed. "Did I do it?" She asked.

"Kass, you made a whole bunch of leaves falling around us," Marina said smiling. "That was incredible."

Zephyr smiled at Kassidy while the boys were looking at her pretty jealous. "Well done, Kass, that was very excellent." He then looked at the boys. "Now boys, try something simpler like what Kassidy did but it doesn't have to be over the top."

This time both Holden and Shade scrunched their eyes shut and began to concentrate on making their versions of leaves. They hummed and bared their teeth as they did it. As they did Kassidy and Marina began to notice two looking leaves on the floor but they could barely see them. The echo projections then disappeared and the boys sighed in disappointment as Kassidy and Marina laughed.

Holden looked at the girls annoyed. "Yeah, hardy harr, laugh it up for the top worse echo projections on this planet."

"You have nothing to be mad about, Holden," Zephyr said. "It was a good start for the both of you."

Shade sighed. "But I couldn't hold it. It's gotta be longer, and bigger, and scarier."

"Yeah, if that will ever happen," Holden scoffed.

Zephyr walked up to the boys. "You're letting your emotions get in the way. The reason Kassidy was able to do it was because she didn't think about anything else but her echo projection. All of you should take a break and stretch your wings." He then began to walk away.

"But-" Shade began but Zephyr interrupted him.

"You can pick some stinging nettle for me," Zephyr said as he looked back at the four friends. "A patch of it grows in an alley not far from the cathedral." Without arguing with Zephyr, the four friends made their way out of the cathedral but not before Zephyr said: "Keep alert and listen."

The four friends then made it out into the city and flew to the alley that Zephyr was talking about. When they reached the alley they all saw the stinging nettle and landed near it where all the filthy garbage was. Flies were buzzing everywhere and Kassidy could smell a lot of the disgusting garbage that was rotten food.

"Okay, Kassidy and I pick and you two can stand guard," Marina said.

Shade and Holden looked at Marina like she was crazy. "What are we going to guard against, this plant?" Shade said and then he plucked out the stinging nettle and when he did he then bumped into Holden and they both yelped and they crashed to the ground and they both groaned. "Sorry, Holden."

The girls got over to the boys and they helped them up. "Right now I think you two might need bodyguards in case one of you _actually_ gets hurt," Kassidy said.

The girls then noticed a big shadow and when they looked to see what it was they gasped. The boys looked at them confused. "What's wrong with you two?" Holden asked. "What's with the faces?"

When the boys turned around to see what the girls were looking at they gasped. Standing right in front of them was an angry-looking owl. Kassidy cussed in her head as she stared at the owl but she then snarled at the owl and waited for it to try and do something. She was ready for it to try and attack them and when it did he was going to be sorry he ever tried to mess with them. Especially Kassidy.

All of the sudden the owl screeched and was about to attack one of them and Kassidy was about to attack it herself but then Shade swung the stinging nettle into the owl's face like a baseball bat and it hit the owl square in the face and the owl screeched out in pain. The owl then took a couple of steps backwards and then it collapsed to the ground and disappeared into thin air.

"Huh?" Shade said as he and the others were confused.

They then heard clapping and laughing and they looked up to see that Zephyr was dancing on an old and rusty shopping cart. The four friends sighed relieved smiling and they were laughing as well. Yet again, Zephyr got them.

* * *

Kassidy woke up early the next night and she then yawned. She and her friends were roosted on different beams and her friends were still sound asleep. She looked at a beam that was very far away from them to see Zephyr asleep. She then looked at Holden to see if he kept his word about keeping one eye opened from now on and as expected he had both eyes closed. Kassidy rolled her eyes with a smile.

She then stood upright and began to wash her face with her own spit. Usually, a lot of girls would be disgusted by this but not her. She was after all pretty much like a tomboy. She then stretched herself for a few minutes.

Kassidy then looked at the beam above her where she could see the same pigeon, Grace in the same spot where Kassidy placed her. Zephyr was doing all he could to help this poor pigeon and Kassidy wished she could do more for Grace. She wasn't experienced with healing spells but she was good with healing herbs. Then a thought came to her, maybe there was something she could do for Grace. She did mention something attacking her family but what could it possibly be? Could it actually be giant bats? She had to know.

She flew up to Grace and then landed near her and she looked peaceful in her sleep, not having to worry about what attacked her. Kassidy sighed and then she gently shook Grace. "Grace?" Grace mumbled and Kassidy tried again. "Grace." Grace shot open her eyes and she gasped scared but Kassidy quickly shushed her. "Grace, it's me, Kassidy."

Grace relaxed and started to calm down, putting her uninjured wing on where her heart was beating. "Oh, you scared me."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

Grace smiled weakly at Kassidy. "It's okay, I guess ever since that attack I've been jumping at the littlest of things."

Kassidy then sat down in front of Grace. "About what you got attacked by… did you actually get attacked by giant bats?"

Grace's smile went down and she then looked down at the beam nervously. "It sounds crazy I know but I really did see giant bats."

Kassidy took a strand of her hair and she put it behind her ear. "Did you get a good look at them?"

Grace looked back at Kassidy. "Not really… but their size was unlike any bats' I've ever seen before. However, I did catch something on one of them."

Kassidy leaned forward now curious. "What was it?" Grace gulped nervously and looked around her as if something was going to try and hunt her down again. "Grace, whatever it is you can tell me, no one's going to hurt you. Not on my watch."

Grace looked back at Kassidy and she seemed calm about Kassidy's words. She then sighed. "Thank you, you are too kind." Grace was then silent for a few seconds as she looked back to when she got attacked by what she claims were giant bats. "I saw not one but three scary-looking snakes on one of the giant bats. They weren't real but they looked more like drawings kind of like yours but they were way different."

Kassidy looked at Grace confused. "Snakes?"

"Yes… two of them were on its arms and one of them was on its back. It was like those snakes were going to come off the giant bat and attack me…"

Kassidy took a moment to think to herself. A giant bat had drawings on it and they were of snakes. This didn't seem right but it did sound crazy. Giant bats or not she now had a description of one of them.

"Could you tell me exactly where you and your family got attacked?"

Grace nodded her head slowly. "Of course, you can find my roost a few flights from here. There will be a nest on a tall building. Although I don't know if I should even be calling it my roost… it's a bloody mess."

Kassidy got up and went over to Grace and then she gently took the wing that was not sprained and she put her other hand on top of her wing and smiled weakly at the pigeon. "Everything will be fine. Just know that I'm not your enemy nor will I ever be."

Grace smiled weakly at Kassidy. "I know."

Kassidy then gently placed Grace's wing on the beam and she took off from it and she flew out from the cathedral through the gargoyle and into the city. She used her sound vision to navigate to the building Grace spoke of with her roost being there. She made sure (and really made sure) to stay in the darkness so no pigeons could see her and she hoped no owls would be hunting her down tonight.

Then she saw a tall tower standing in the distance and as she did she then started to smell something strong. It wasn't garbage, it was much worse than that. She had a strong feeling of what it was.

Then when she made it to the top of the tower her eyes bestowed upon the most gruesome sight she's ever seen. Blood was everywhere and there were scratch marks all over the place. When she landed she looked around her and she has never seen anything like this. Sure she saw this in horror movies but not in real life. She then saw a nest and she slowly walked towards it and when she got close enough to it she looked inside it and huge amounts of blood stained the inside of the nest. Kassidy sighed and knew that Grace lost her squabs. She didn't know if the husband was alive or not but her high guess was that Grace's mate was killed.

As Kassidy kept staring at the nest she then heard something whoosh by her and as fast as lightning she did what she always did with magic and conjured fire in her hands and she snarled in the direction of where she heard the whoosh. She used her eyes and her hearing to try and detect some sort of presence around her. She also tried to use her sense of smell but all she could smell was the blood and the smoke coming from the fire in her hands. Kassidy got confused and then thought that maybe it was just her and she was hearing things. She demolished the fire from her hands and she was about to take off but before she did, she looked behind her one last time to see if something or someone was actually watching her.

There was no one.

With that, Kassidy took off and made her way back to the cathedral. She wondered if her friends were awake or not and if they were she wondered how she was going to explain this to them. But if they weren't maybe she should keep this to herself, considering she didn't want them to worry.

* * *

On top of another building that was near the building the bat named Kassidy was on, Goth watched as the Silverwing made her way back to the cathedral. He saw her flying in the city when he was out hunting alone and when he did he followed her. He was watching her when she was looking around the bloody top of the building. It was amazing when he was watching her that she still had no fear in her eyes. Usually, when these sorts of animals saw anything like this they usually got afraid and scurried off but not this one. She was looking at the scene like she's seen it before in her lifetime. She wasn't even afraid when she saw what was inside the nest.

When Goth went to land on top of another building so he could actually watch her and not let her see him he saw her form fire in her hands and he got lucky she didn't see him because if she did he could've probably guessed that she would've turned him into a roast bat. When he saw her looking around her bravely while snarling with the fire in her hands, Goth didn't see a dangerous creature but rather he saw the same beautiful bat that was smiling and glowing. The fire illuminating on Kassidy made her look as though she was actually part of the fire and the way the fire was rising and dancing in her hands near her face made her eyes pop those beautiful ocean blue eyes and it looked as though the fire was actually in her eyes. Since he first saw her he couldn't get her out of his head and it made him furious because she was his enemy-even though he barely knew anything about her. He didn't tell Throbb or their new partners this and he was going to keep it that way.

He still didn't know why she was important to Martin and Dianna and all he could get out of them was that she was something special. Whatever the case was all he wanted to do was eat a colony and return to his beloved jungle. Whatever risks and sacrifices he was willing to take he would do it. Even if he had to make a deal with Cama Zotz himself just to get home.

* * *

**A/N- Sorry for the long wait, guys. I was busy studying for these very important tests and recently I've been going through a depression but I'm all better and I'm back. I was very happy when I got back to writing this story because I had a lot of stuff going on and all of it wasn't too bad but my only complaint is that I hate getting up early in the morning. A lot of you can probably relate to that and I'm mostly a night person. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter and chapter 20 will be here soon.**


	20. Amazing Grace

**Chapter 20**

**Amazing Grace**

* * *

As Kassidy was flying back to the cathedral she couldn't stop thinking about what she saw. She wished that she was seeing things and move on but how could she when she saw a crime scene like she was on Law and Order? She knew whoever did this to Grace and her family was very dangerous. How could these animals harm innocent pigeons like Grace and her family? How could they even kill squabs? Those squabs were going to grow up to be like Grace and their Father and now they won't be able to have the chance to do that. She couldn't even imagine the look on Grace's face when she saw these creatures attack her and her family. It must've been one of the scariest moments of her life.

Then out of nowhere she then started to hear someone cry. She furrowed her brow confused and she flicked her ears forward to hear well. It sounded masculine and she thought she should probably ignore it but something told her she better make sure that whoever was crying was alright. Maybe they were hurt or even worse.

She changed course and she set on her way to where the crying was coming from. She started to hear it come from atop another building. She thought that if this was supposed to be some sort of ambush she knew she would regret ever trying to see what was going on. She flew to the top and then she carefully landed quietly so that whoever was crying wouldn't hear her. When she saw who was crying she was surprised to see it was the sentry, Hegland. He was crying in his wing and he looked really upset about something. Kassidy knew Hegland was scared of what he saw and what tried to attack him but she didn't expect him to cry over it. She guessed it must've really traumatized him.

Kassidy looked around her but she saw no pigeons insight. She then figured that he must've been alone at this moment. _Poor thing. _She then walked over to Hegland and when she got near him she stopped. "Excuse me."

Hegland screamed and he jumped. He then started to shake and he slowly turned his head around and when he saw Kassidy he looked like he was going to pass out. "It's you! Please don't hurt me, I almost got murdered by giant bats and I don't want to be murdered tonight!"

Kassidy put her hands up towards Hegland in a calm way. "Easy, Hegland, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not a murderer."

Hegland then continued to cry. "What am I even saying? Maybe I should've gotten murdered that night! Why am I having the worst luck recently? First I saw my closest friend get murdered by giant bats and now my family got murdered by giant bats!" He then put his face back in his wing to cry more. "My beautiful Grace and my sweet squabs are gone…"

Kassidy gasped when Hegland said, Grace. Again, she thought things were definitely getting crazy. "Did you just say, Grace?"

Hegland sniffed and he looked back at Kassidy. "Why do you care if I said Grace or not?"

"Because I know Grace."

Hegland's eyes widened. "What?" Hegland wiped away the tears from his eyes. "Grace is alive? Is she alright?"

Kassidy smiled weakly. "Her wing is sprained but she'll be alright. A good friend of mine named Zephyr is helping her get her wing fixed up."

Hegland then started to gleam. "After all these days, Grace is actually alive? Can you take me to her?"

Kassidy didn't know how her friends would react to this. She especially didn't know how Shade would react to this. However, Grace was Hegland's mate and if she did bring Hegland to the cathedral they could be happily reunited. But if she did take Hegland to the cathedral would he report them and get them arrested? But when she looked into Hegland's eyes she could tell that he really wanted to see his mate again. How could she refuse? He and Grace were family and family always matters. This also made her think about a quote from Lilo and Stitch. Ohana means _family. _Family means _no one_ gets left behind or forgotten.

"I can," Kassidy said. "On one condition though, if I take you to Grace will you promise me that you won't tell anyone about me and my friends?"

Hegland nodded without a second thought. "I won't tell anyone about you and your friends. I promise." Kassidy nodded and she flew off the building and Hegland followed her. "So what's your name?"

"My name's Kassidy, but you can call me Kass for short."

"Kassidy?" Hegland asked. "I've never heard of that name before, what does it mean?"

Kassidy looked over her shoulder at Hegland and she smirked. "My name pretty much means _clever_."

* * *

Shade and Holden were trying to come up with the best echo projections they could muster. They bet on one tiger moth to see who could do theirs better and Marina was the judge. Shade had his claws to the sides of his head as he was humming and he could hear Holden doing the same thing. Shade tried to do what Zephyr said he needed to do to conjure an echo projection and he was trying to do a ladybug. It seemed simple and plus they were pretty small. He tried not to let his emotions get in his way, but it was hard to do that now they had a bird problem.

He waited for Marina to decide who's was better and while he did she hummed to herself. "Guys, I don't know. I can barely see them."

The boys both opened their eyes to look at Marina. "Marina, can you just choose?" Shade asked. "Mine has to be better than Holden's."

"Forget it, Smalls," Holden said. "Mine's ten percent better than yours." Holden then smirked. "I can't wait until I get my tiger moth."

Shade smirked at Holden. "You wish, clumsy hunter. I'm going to win this and when I do I'll be the one laughing in the end."

"Not when I win though and when I win I'll be the one laughing in the end."

Marina sighed as she rolled her eyes. "It's a tie."

"What?" The boys both shouted at the same time as their smiles went down.

Marina shrugged her shoulders. "I could barely see them and they both disappeared at the same time."

The three of them then heard a whoosh coming from down below them and when they looked down they saw Kassidy flying up and then Shade gasped when he saw a pigeon flying up with her. They landed near Shade, Holden, and Marina and the three of them were staring at the pigeon shocked. Shade then realized that it was Hegland and to him, it felt weird seeing him again for the third time but he felt some sort of anger that Kassidy could even think of bringing him here. What was she even trying to do?

"Kass, why did you bring him here?" Shade asked. "You gave up our hiding spot!"

Kassidy scowled at Shade and Shade hoped she wouldn't explode into flames. "He's here for a good reason, Shade. He's Grace's mate."

"He's Grace's mate?" Holden asked.

"That's what I said didn't I?"

Hegland looked around him. "Grace? Grace?" All of them then heard murmuring and they looked up to see that Grace was waking up. Hegland then gleamed. "Grace!"

Grace's eyes widened and when she looked down she gasped when her eyes laid on Hegland. "Hegland?"

Hegland flew up to Grace and then he roosted next to her and as soon as he did he gently hugged her. They rubbed their heads against each other and they cooed softly to comfort each other. "Grace, you're okay… I thought I lost you…"

"Me too, Hegland…" Grace then looked at Hegland very sadly and Shade saw that tears were forming in her eyes. "Our family…"

Hegland had the same sad look in his eyes. "I know, Grace… I know…"

Grace then started to cry and as she did, Hegland pulled her closer to him and she continued to cry in his feathers. Shade watched what was happening and he didn't know what to feel at this moment. He looked at his friends and they were looking at the pigeons feeling pity for them. He was still mad at the pigeons for what they were about to do to him and his friends but he didn't know if he should feel bad for these two or not.

Marina then looked at Kassidy. "Is their family…"

Kassidy looked at Marina and she sighed but she slowly nodded her head and as she did, Marina put her hand on her mouth.

Holden walked up to Kassidy. "How'd you and Hegland get in here?"

Kassidy looked at Holden. "There were people coming into the cathedral so we took our chance to slip in before the doors closed." Kassidy then looked back up at the pigeons. "I can't imagine how hard it must be for them at the moment..."

"Well… at least they still got each other," Marina said.

Shade looked back at the pigeons and he saw they were still sad but at the same time, he could see the relief on their faces. This made him think about his Mom. This made him wish he could hug her-even if he might not ever get to see her again.

He then looked at Kassidy. "Kass?" His friends looked at him. "I think you made the right decision of bringing Hegland back to Grace."

His friends looked a little surprised but then Kassidy gave him a weak smile as if to say thanks. Shade then noticed that Zephyr was looking at him and he saw that he was giving him a weak smile and he was slowly nodding his head.

* * *

Later, Holden and his friends were on a beam looking down at the people that were seated in neat rows beneath the light and Zephyr, Grace, and Hegland were with them as well. Huge pillars stretched from the floor to the vaulted ceiling. High windows glinted darkly in the walls. The people were staring at the priest that was on the platform reading from the bible out loud. Hanging on the wall behind the priest was a cross with Jesus Christ on it.

Holden listened intently to the priest and it'd been a while since he ever been to something like this. When he was younger his grandparents would take him and his younger brother, Lewis to church every Sunday while his parents were always bickering about something at home and sometimes they even had to spend the night with their grandparents on the weekends if the arguments were really serious. He remembered when he was in church he felt safe and protected from all the worries and problems in his life but since his grandparents passed on he no longer went to church. But at this moment it felt like he was the younger boy again being safe and all as he continued to listen and watch the priest. In this cathedral, he didn't have to worry about getting killed by owls and such. He felt relieved to get away from all that's happened but he knew it wouldn't last long but he wanted to make the most of it before he and his friends had to leave to continue on with their migration.

"I've never seen so many all in one place," Marina breathed, a look of anticipation on her face. As if something wonderful was about to happen."

The priest told the people to rise and they were silent as the priest continued to speak. "What're they doing?" Shade asked.

"They're praying," Holden said.

Shade looked at Holden confused. "Why?"

"We're living in a world that is filled with danger, Smalls. A lot of us come here to pray to our God in hopes of living in a better environment and having a peaceful life."

"Peace is never easy to make with some," Zephyr said. "However, it can serve a great purpose in life."

"Even if it had to be owls?" Kassidy asked.

Zephyr looked at Kassidy. "Even if it had to be owls. Now you and Holden should know something and I told Shade and Marina the exact same thing I'm about to tell you. You must never underestimate the power of a kind act, even towards one enemy."

Holden and Kassidy looked at each other. Holden knew that Zephyr was right and he knew Kassidy was thinking the same thing.

All of them then started to hear the people sing and after a few lyrics in, Holden could tell in an instant that the people were singing Amazing Grace. The church organ was playing as the people were singing and it soothed Holden. He remembered this song by heart and he still remembers it.

"What is this strange and wonderful sound?" Grace asked curiously.

"It sounds beautiful," Hegland said.

Holden smiled weakly at the pigeons. "They're singing and they're singing Amazing Grace." The pigeons stared amazed at what Holden just said. "I think this song would be a good one for you, Grace."

Holden looked back at the people and when he did he started to sing along. He didn't look at anyone else as he continued to sing but this song somehow made him feel hopeful about getting home. He felt confident that God would help him and his friends out of this mess. He hoped that God was watching them.

* * *

"You can only hear the world around you with emotions that are calm and a heart that is open," Zephyr said while the four friends were standing next to each other outside on the mouth of the gargoyle statue listening to what he was saying.

Then in the sky, the brightest shooting star soared across the sky and this was Kassidy's first time seeing one and it was magnificent. As it disappeared in the sky she and her friends wowed. She was impressed with how much Zephyr knew and what he could do. What else could this guy do?

"You can hear a star?" Kassidy asked.

"Hear? No," Zephyr said as he shook his head. "But I can sense it."

Kassidy then noticed something in Shade's eyes and those were the eyes of hope. "Can you sense what's happening to my colony?"

Zephyr started to tilt his head and ears in different directions as he was mumbling to himself with his eyes closed. "Uh… so many colonies… so much interference… something is wrong... very wrong…" Zephyr then opened his eyes. "They're in grave danger."

Kassidy's eyes widened at what Zephyr said. She didn't want to believe what Zephyr said but she could tell that Zephyr was telling the truth. Her friends were as shocked as she was but it was mostly Shade who was.

"Where?" Shade asked worriedly. "Where are they?"

"In the valley," Zephyr said. "South of the city."

Kassidy knew they had to find them and fast before it was too late. But would they be able to reach them in time?

"We have to warn them," Shade said.

"Be careful," Zephyr said. "There are owls patrolling this area."

Shade, Holden, and Marina were about to take off but they noticed that Kassidy was walking up to Zephyr. Kassidy smiled weakly at him. "Thank you, for all you've done."

Zephyr smiled and he placed his hands on Kassidy's shoulders. "It was my pleasure, my dear. And Kass?" Kassidy tilted her head. "Keep them safe and be a good friend you are. I hope to see you four again."

Kassidy looked at her friends and then she looked back at Zephyr and nodded. "I will keep them safe, I promise. We also hope to see you again soon."

Kassidy turned around and before they took off, they looked at Zephyr one last time and he was smiling at them. He then turned to look at the city. The friends looked at each other and then they flew off from the gargoyle's mouth and flew into the city. They flew as fast as they could into the city.

"We should be flying low so the owls don't see us," Marina said.

"I think we're fine Marina," Holden said. "Besides I don't see any owls in sight."

Kassidy and Marina looked around the city and they both weren't confident about what Holden said and it wasn't very reassuring to them. Kassidy had a bad feeling that they were being watched. Then as if her thoughts were heard, she heard owl screeches. She and Marina looked up and they gasped when they saw two owls perched on a tower. They then took off into the air and they had their eyes on their targets.

Holden and Shade.

"Holden," Kassidy shouted. "Shade!"

"Shade," Marina shouted "Holden!"

"Behind you!"

The boys looked behind them confused and when they saw the owls they smiled sarcastically. "Guys, it's okay," Holden shouted. "It's just another one of Zephyr's fancy-schmancy echo projections!"

The owls screeched more and they had their talons out ready to grab the boys, but before they could even grab them, Kassidy quickly did everything she needed to do in magic and used her wind spell to quickly blow Holden and Shade away from the owls and when she did the boys yelped and the owls almost caught them. Kassidy and Marina quickly got to the boys as they quickly regained their flight. They then heard the owls screeching again and they looked behind them to see the owls were now charging at them.

"Fly," Kassidy shouted. The four friends quickly flew as fast as they could in the city and as they did the two owls were on them.

"Okay, those weren't echo projections," Holden shouted in fear.

"Stop talking and fly for Nocturna's sake," Marina shouted.

They kept flying and as they did, Kassidy saw a forest on the outskirts of the city. She pumped her wings even harder. "Get into the forest!"

The four of them kept flying as the owls screeched and chased them down. Even though Kassidy and her friends were getting exhausted from the flying they kept going. They eventually made it into the forest. They maneuvered passed anything they came across just to try and lose the owls and Kassidy was even using her magic to try and get rid of them but no matter what they did the owls kept keeping up with them.

Kassidy then noticed that the boys were having a hard time keeping up with her and Marina. If they kept lagging farther behind she knew the owls would get them. They needed a miracle.

"Guys, up ahead," Marina shouted.

Kassidy looked to where Marina was looking to and she saw a tree with a hole big enough for all four of them to fit through but small enough so the owls wouldn't get through. Kassidy kept her eyes on the tree and didn't take them off it as she was determined to get inside it. She didn't even blink.

Then all four of them made it inside and when they did they landed and breathed for air but they didn't have time to regain their energy as they were close to being pierced by one of the owl's talons and they were lucky enough to jump out of the way. The owls were digging their talons into the bark and were trying to make the hole bigger to try and get to the four of them. When one of them had their talons in the tree hole, Kassidy took her chance to bite on them and the owl screeched out in pain and then Kassidy somersaulted out of the way before the other owl could get her. The four friends had their backs to the wall as the owls kept trying to make the hole more open. Holden was shaking scared, Marina kept staring with her eyes widened in horror, while Kassidy and Shade had their teeth bared at the owls and Kassidy was growling. Kassidy wouldn't let them get to them and she was ready to fight them when the hole was big enough for them.

All of a sudden something attacked the owls and the owls screeched out surprised. Then the four of them heard snapping and the cries of the owls. Then everything went silent.

None of them moved and Kassidy could feel her heart pounding but she wouldn't let that stop her. She had to stay strong for her friends. She then started to smell blood like she did when she went to Grace's roost. The four of them looked at each other but together they slowly went to the hole of the tree and when they got to the hole they looked outside and to their shock, they saw the two owls dead. Blood was pouring out of them everywhere and they were covered in it. Not only that they saw not two but four tall figures and Kassidy couldn't believe what she was seeing.

They were giant bats.

They were eating the limp owls and this made all four of them gasp silently. Luckily, the four giant bats didn't hear them and kept eating. However, Kassidy's eyes caught something on one of them and when she saw what it was she gasped silently again.

On the back of the giant bat, Kassidy was staring at had a snake on it.

* * *

**A/N- Man, I was not expecting to get another chapter in this fast but it's completed. I guess you could say it's also for practically not getting my chapters published a while ago. I'm not gonna lie I'm really excited about starting the next chapter and I've been really looking forward to it. Also, I might change my rating from T to M but I mostly want to keep it T so I might just keep it T for now until I know for sure if I should change it but honestly I might just keep it T. That's all there is to say and the next chapter will be here soon.**


	21. Four New Amigos

**Chapter 21**

**Four New Amigos**

* * *

Kassidy couldn't believe it… there really were giant bats in the city. Her mind was racing with so many thoughts and questions that she had to steady herself by putting her hand on the side of the hole. She tried to stay quiet because she didn't want any of the giant bats to hear her. This whole time, Grace and Hegland were telling the truth.

Holden was holding his hands to his mouth as he was looking at the gruesome scene while Shade and Marina had the same look of disgust but shock on their faces. Kassidy could see the flesh and blood flying all over the place as the giant bats were enjoying their owls and already she could see the owls' ribcages. This proved that they looked dangerous.

"It… can't be," Marina whispered.

Kassidy looked at her friends. "We need to get out of here," she whispered.

"We can't leave without thanking them," Shade whispered. "They saved us."

"Whether they did it to save us or not we need to-" before Kassidy could finish, Holden turned around and he started to vomit inside the tree and the three of them cried out disgusted. Holden then started to cough from the vomit he threw up after he did it for a few seconds.

The three of them looked back at the giant bats and Kassidy and Marina's eyes widened when they saw that the giant bats were looking up at them.

"Oh, god I think my breakfast is coming up," Holden shouted and he started to puke again and Kassidy, Shade, and Marina made a disgusted face again but didn't look back at Holden and his vomit.

Even though the giant bats couldn't see what was going on, Kassidy could tell that they knew what was going on. She looked at each of the bats and they were different in some way. Really different. But she couldn't take her eyes off of one of them and it was the one that had the snakes on him. Not only did he have one on his back but like Grace said there were three of them and the other two were on his arms but not only that he looked very muscular-even though he looked to be around his middle ages. He had blackish-grayish hair, with a beard, a hazelwood mane, along with steel gray fur, and sangria red wings. What disturbed Kassidy though were his eyes. They were two different colors with one of them being green and the other being brown. Those eyes looked nothing like a bat's but rather they looked more like snake eyes like he had a parent that was actually a snake.

Holden then came back next to Kassidy, Shade, and Marina and he was wiping the vomit from his mouth. He then looked back at the giant bats but Kassidy could tell he was trying not to look at the carcasses. She swore that if Holden puked once again she was going to make him clean it all up with his mouth. Now the inside of the tree smelled of vomit and Kassidy didn't know if the smell of blood was worse or if the smell of vomit was.

She then noticed that one of the giant bats-which she could tell was very fat-was trying to eat the carcass again but a male bat that was eating the same owl as him (and was much more fit than him) stopped him using his hand and the fat bat grumbled. The two of them then looked back at the four friends. The four bats then started to smile at the four friends and their smiles brought so many alarms in Kassidy's head as if it were a red alert. Especially the one with the snakes on him, he had four pointy teeth that looked like snake teeth. This felt really uneasy for her.

The giant bat with snakes on him was wiping the blood off his mouth and then he cleared his throat. "Are you kids alright?"

The four friends looked at each other. Shade then looked back at the giant bat with the snakes on him. "Y-Yeah, thank you."

"You're very much welcome, boy," the giant bat with snakes on him said. "I'm Martin." He then wrapped his wing around the other giant bat which was a female. "This is my lovely wife, Dianna."

The bat named Dianna looked to be around her middle ages but even though she was she looked very pretty. She had raven black hair, very intense green eyes, sacramento green wings, a turkish blue mane, and sepia tan fur. What really caught Kassidy's attention was Dianna's claws. Her claws were really long and they looked like Freddy Krueger's clawed hand in Nightmare on Elm Street.

Martin then gestured to the two other giant bats. "And over there is our partners." Martin pointed at the muscular bat. "That's Prince Goth of the Vampyrum Spectrum." The bat named Goth slightly nodded his head at them while Martin then pointed at the other one next to Goth, "and that's his… brother-in-law, Throbb." Martin said as if Throbb repulsed him.

Kassidy noticed that Holden looked like he was about to laugh when Martin said that Goth and Throbb were brothers-in-law but she then saw that Holden was biting on his bottom lip. She looked back at the brothers and started to observe them. Goth had crimson red hair, a beard, a beige mane, grey-brown fur, purple wings, and green eyes. He was then wiping the blood off his mouth like Dianna was. He certainly looked like he knew how to present himself properly. _For a Prince, _Kassidy thought with a roll of her eyes.

Throbb, on the other hand, was the opposite of Goth. He had dark purple hair along with a goatee, a dark green mane, dark blue wings, teal fur, and green eyes. He was also much shorter than the rest of the giant bats which kind of made him look like a dwarf. He still had blood on his mouth and didn't bother using his hand or arm to wipe it off. Instead, he used his tongue to lick it off. Goth was looking at his brother annoyed but he looked away while shaking his head.

Kassidy couldn't help but scowl at the four giant bats while Marina was looking at them unsure. The boys, on the other hand, were looking at them curiously. "H-Hi," Shade said. "Um…" He then cleared his throat. "I-I'm Shade" He then gestured to the girls. "T-That's Kassidy and Marina, but Kassidy goes for Kass for short." He then gestured to Holden, "and this is Holden."

The girls looked at Shade shocked and Kassidy couldn't believe he said their names. Kassidy then scowled at Shade and Shade noticed it and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Tell me I'm dreaming," Holden said. "Am I actually looking at giant bats right now?"

Martin chuckled. "What else would you be looking at, boy?"

Holden then started to slowly smile and he looked at Kassidy, Shade, and Marina. "This is awesome," Holden whispered. Kassidy then scowled at Holden and Holden looked at her as if to say "What?"

"Why don't you four come on down here?" Martin said. "We won't bite you."

Martin's companions chuckled at what he said.

"Not a chance," Kassidy said and this made everyone look at her. "What makes you so sure that'd we would want to fly on down there after what you did to those owls?"

"We just saved your lives," Dianna said. "Are you not thankful for what we did?"

Kassidy looked at Dianna. "That's not what I was trying to say."

"Then join us on the ground, after all, there can't be anything wrong with four giant bats getting acquainted with you and your friends can it?"

The four friends looked at each other and then Holden and Shade smiled at the girls and made their way down to the ground and when they did they landed. Everyone looked up at Kassidy and Marina and waited for them to do something. Kassidy kept scowling but she then sighed and she rubbed her temples and she couldn't believe she was about to go down there. She took off and Marina hesitated but she then followed Kassidy. They then landed next to the boys and when they did Kassidy crossed her arms.

"Satisfied?" Kassidy asked.

"Very much so," Martin said.

Goth and Throbb flew over to their partners and landed next to them. "We are new to these lands," Goth said in a smooth Spanish accent. "Torn away from our own."

Shade smiled at Goth. "Us too!"

Holden then started to laugh. "Huh, who knew right?"

"We have much in common," Goth then smiled at the boys.

"Pft," Kassidy said. Goth's smile went down when he saw that Kassidy was still scowling. Kassidy's eyebrows went up. "What?"

Goth then smiled again. "I see you're having doubts about us, señorita. I can assure you that we don't mean any harm."

Kassidy gave Goth a fake smile. "I'm sure you don't, Fancy Wings."

Her friends looked at her while Goth's smile went down.

Martin then cleared his throat. "Anyways, all we want to do is get back home in the south." Martin then indicated to the stars. "But we cannot read these uh… northern stars."

As Martin's hand was extended towards the stars, Kassidy then saw something on his hand that made her eyes widen. On the palm of Martin's hand was the mark of the pentagram. She then pointed at Martin. "You have the mark!"

"Huh?" Martin looked at Kassidy. Martin then looked at the mark on the palm of his hand and he then smiled at Kassidy. "Oh, you mean this?" Martin then showed the palm of his hand towards the four friends and Holden, Shade, and Marina gasped. Kassidy looked at her hand with the pentagram mark on it and she compared it to Martin's and there was no doubt about it. He had magic like her. "I see you have the mark as well."

Dianna walked up to Kassidy and when Kassidy saw her doing that she snarled at her. Dianna put her hands up. "Easy there, I just want to look at your mark." She then extended her hand towards Kassidy. "May I?"

Kassidy then felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked to see that Shade had his hand on her shoulder. "Kass, it's okay. I think we can trust them."

Kassidy looked at Dianna and she was smiling at her. She didn't like it the way these guys were smiling at them. Something about them just didn't seem right. But when she looked at the boys she could see that they wanted her to trust Dianna and let her look at her mark. When she looked at Marina she was looking at her as if to say "Don't do it." Kassidy then looked at Dianna and she sighed. She then extended her marked hand towards Dianna and she gently grabbed it and started to look at it and as she did she hummed to herself.

Dianna then lifted her other hand and then she extended one of her claws and as she did, Marina gasped. Dianna then slowly traced the mark on Kassidy with her claw and she didn't make her palm bleed. If she even tried to hurt her, Kassidy was going to rip her pretty little claws off.

Dianna then looked back at Kassidy. "So much like Martin's."

Kassidy then snatched her hand away from Dianna. Dianna then shrugged her shoulders like it wasn't a big deal and she got back next to Martin.

Kassidy then saw that Shade looked like he had an idea. "You guys can travel with us!" The girls gasped at what Shade said. "We're headed south to find my-"

"Uh, Shade?" Kassidy said and everyone looked at her. "I think it would only be fair if we discussed this rather than _actually _allowing them to come with us." Kassidy looked at the four giant bats. "'Scuse us for a sec."

Kassidy grabbed Shade's arm and she pulled him to behind a very far tree and Marina did the same thing with Holden. When they got behind the tree, the boys looked at them confused. "Hey, what gives?" Shade asked.

Kassidy crossed her arms and scowled at Shade. "Are you for real?"

"What?"

"We can't trust them. We don't know anything about them and they come out of nowhere like they're assassins working for a society."

"Kass, I think you're overreacting," Holden said with his brow furrowed. "They just saved us back there and without them, we would've been dead meat."

"Kass is right," Marina said. "We don't know anything about them. They're so uncomfortable to be next to. Dianna even looked like she wanted to bite Kassidy's hand off."

"She was looking at her mark, Marina," Shade said. "Look, I know you two don't trust them but could you at least give them a chance? We do after all owe them."

Kassidy and Marina looked at each other. They then looked back at the boys and they sighed, knowing Shade was right. "Fine, they can come with us," Kassidy said. "But if they do anything out of the ordinary they're gone, you understand?"

Shade sighed but then nodded. "Fine."

"Also I don't want them to know that Holden and I are humans."

Holden looked at her confused. "Why? I don't see what the-"

"Holden, please," Kassidy said as she looked at Holden. "I don't want them to know. Until I think they can be trusted, they can't know about our secret. I'm asking you as a friend to just trust me on this."

Holden was about to protest but then he closed his mouth. He then sighed. "Alright, that's fine."

"Alright," Shade said. "Then it's settled then." The four of them flew back over to the four giant bats. Shade then smiled at them. "After our discussion, we've decided that you could come with us."

The four giant bats smiled, satisfied with their answer. "Thank you," Martin said, "and in return, we'd like to offer you our protection." Martin then extended his hand out towards Shade.

Shade looked at Martin's hand for a second and then he shook Martin's hand. "It's a deal."

Mournful hoots all the sudden filled the night sky and the four friends looked up alarmed. The four giant bats looked up as well. "What was that?" Goth asked, his crest bristling.

"More owls," Shade then looked at the two dead owls and his eyes widened as if realizing something and he looked at everyone. "I think they're calling for these two… We should get moving."

Martin hummed to himself and then he looked at the owl corpses. He then smiled mischievously and Kassidy could tell that he was concentrating on the carcasses for some reason. Then with the flick of his wrist, the carcasses then disappeared in thin air. Everyone except Dianna had their eyes widened.

Martin then crossed his arms and he looked at Shade still smiling. "I think we should be good to go."

* * *

She just wasn't sure about them. They seemed like they were friendly but in a way, it seemed wrong. Very wrong.

Kassidy and Marina were flying next to each other as they were way in the back following the others. The boys seemed like they were getting well acquainted with the giant bats. They were talking with them but they were mostly talking to Martin and Goth and they were asking them some questions like they were celebrities and as they did the boys were looking astonished as their questions were being answered.

Kassidy rolled her eyes. "Kill me now."

Marina looked at Kassidy. "Still don't trust them?"

Kassidy looked at Marina. "Not the slightest. I still don't think they should've came with us."

"I don't blame you. I don't like them nor trust them."

The girls then heard the boys laughing at something Martin said. This made Kassidy look at Martin and there was something about him that Kassidy didn't like. Almost everything about him looked so unnatural, the eyes, the four pointy teeth, and the snakes on him. This however made her question something. How did he get those snakes on him?

Whatever the case was, Kassidy had a feeling that Martin and his other giant bat companions were hiding something.

Kassidy then looked back at Marina. "I think we should spy on them."

Marina looked dumbfounded for a moment. "What?"

"Look, we can both agree that these guys look like they're untrustworthy. If we're wrong or not we should watch them to see if they might be hiding something."

"Should we tell Shade and Holden about this?"

Kassidy thought about what would happen if they told the boys and looking at them now they seemed like they were enjoying the giant bats' company. She then shook her head. "No, we shouldn't tell them. If we even told them what do you think they would've said about it?"

Marina looked at the boys and she thought for a few seconds. She then sighed and nodded her head. "You're right, we shouldn't tell them. They probably would've said that there's 'nothing to worry about'."

"Exactly, and if we even find anything suspicious about them we need to tell Shade and Holden."

"Evening ladies," Kassidy and Marina's eyes widened and Marina gasped when she saw that Dianna was flying near them.

Kassidy didn't look at Dianna and she shut her eyes and she bared her teeth. She hoped that Dianna didn't hear their conversation. Kassidy looked at Dianna and she acted as though everything was alright as Dianna was smiling at them. "Evening… Dianna. What brings you over here?"

Dianna shrugged her shoulders. "Just wanted to see how you two were doing. Plus I wanted to get away from the boys' conversation if you can catch my drift." Kassidy and Marina looked at each other. "You know it's been a while since I've had a conversation with females, I've mostly been having conversations with my husband and my partners. I love talking with my husband, don't get me wrong, but talking with Goth and Throbb is like talking to monkeys."

Marina looked at Dianna confused. "Monkeys?"

"They're kind of like humans but they're very hairy, pretty athletic, and unlike humans, they have tails."

Kassidy looked at Goth and Throbb and then she looked back at Dianna. "You seem like you get along with them."

Dianna snorted. "Trust me, if you saw me near them and talking to them you can tell that they can get under my skin a lot of times."

Kassidy looked at Dianna confused. "How so?"

"Let's just say I can lose my patience with them." Dianna was then looking at something and she looked intrigued at what she was looking at. Kassidy then understood that she was looking at her tattoos and her choker. Dianna then smiled back at Kassidy. "I like those drawings on you, were you born with them like Martin was born with his?"

_He was born with them? _Kassidy thought.

To her, that didn't make any sense. How could Martin be born with snakes on him? Kassidy somehow didn't want to believe that Martin was born with those snakes on him or for that matter even looking like a snake. She thought that he had to use some sort of magic trick to have what he had on him.

However, this did give her an idea. If Dianna says that Martin was born with those snakes on him she could lie about her tattoos. She really didn't want Dianna nor her companions to find out about her nor Holden being humans. She, after all, didn't know what they would do if they knew she and Holden were humans.

"Yeah, I was born with them," Kassidy said.

"Interesting," Dianna said as she looked back at Kassidy's tattoos. "If you actually had put them on you I would've said you had some great taste." Dianna then looked at Kassidy's choker. "What's that on your neck?"

Kassidy tried to think hard about what she could say. "Um… it's something I made. It's a trinket."

"Very nice, you might have to teach me how to make one of those." Kassidy cursed inside her head because she didn't know how to make a choker. Maybe it couldn't be hard to make one, but she hoped that Dianna wouldn't bring it up again. "You know, my husband has a fascination for snakes. He says that they can be very sly and cunning and he's pretty much right. He also says because of his fascination for them he was born to act like one."

To Kassidy, it sounded stupid that he even had things on him that looked like a snake. If he was like that one of his parents would've been a snake. Plus there was no way a bat and a snake could make an offspring.

However, she could understand Martin having a fascination with snakes. She had a fascination for wolves for as long as she could remember. She even remembered one time when she was five she was awake at night and when there was a full moon she howled at it like she was a wolf herself and her parents had to drag her in the house because the neighbors were waking up and they were pretty scared because they thought there was an actual wolf in the neighborhood. Kassidy was forced to apologize to the neighbors and she was embarrassed.

She then looked at Dianna's claws and boy were they something. Kassidy then looked at Dianna. "Were you born with claws those long?

Dianna chuckled. "If I was actually born with these bad boys I probably would've cut the inside of my mom while she was giving birth to me. However, my claws grew longer than the other Vampyrum bats' as I grew older but it gave me a big advantage for my hunting. You could say that I was different. Martin was different as well and that's how we became friends and as time went on we then became mates. You two can relate to being different can't you?"

Kassidy and Marina looked at each other. Even though Kassidy didn't trust Dianna or her companions she could see where Dianna was going with this. Because of her difference a lot of animals have judged her. Because of Marina's band, her colony banished her.

Kassidy then noticed that Marina was looking at something surprised. When Kassidy looked to where Marina was looking she felt like she wanted to her smack her own face. Dianna had on a bronze band. How could she have not seen that? When she looked at Dianna's companions she saw they had the same bands as her.

"Looks like we acquired the same band, Marina," Dianna said when she noticed the girls looking at her band. "Well, sort of. It's quaint though."

"Yeah… I guess it is," Marina said as she looked at her own band.

Kassidy then saw that Martin was flying towards them and he was then flying next to Dianna. Kassidy then noticed that Marina got a little nervous but she looked like she was trying to stay brave. Kassidy wouldn't let Martin get to her and she just stared at Martin with a blank expression.

Martin was smiling at them. "Evening ladies, did I miss anything?"

"No, just discussing some things with them, darling," Dianna said.

Martin then looked at Kassidy and Marina. "I see you two are already getting acquainted with my wife. Did she tell you any secrets?"

Dianna slapped Martin on the shoulder in a playful way as she was smiling at him. "Shut up, you nosy bat."

Martin chuckled at Dianna. "Can you blame me, love?"

Kassidy and Marina looked at each other and at this moment, Kassidy didn't know what to do right now. She found love to be way too cliché sometimes, whether it'd be books, movies, or real life it was way too cliché to her. She knew though that this is what happens when people are in love or married.

She and Marina looked back at the two spouses and Martin then cleared his throat as he and Dianna looked back at Kassidy and Marina. "Sorry to break your girl time, but I need to speak with my wife." Martin looked at Dianna as she looked at him confused. "It's important."

Dianna nodded and she looked at the girls. "It was nice talking to you girls; we can continue this on another time."

Martin and Dianna glided far back behind the others and started to whisper to each other. Kassidy couldn't help but scowl at Martin about what he said but she sighed annoyed. "This wasn't even close to girl talk."

"Is it bad that Martin gives me the creeps?" Marina asked.

Kassidy looked at Marina. "Let's just try to get through with this and see where it leads us to. Remember the plan though."

Marina nodded. "Right."

Then the girls saw Holden and Shade fly next to them and they looked like they were in a good mood. Kassidy looked at Shade confused when she noticed that Goth and Throbb were flying up front whispering to each other in Spanish. Kassidy knew a few languages but she tried not to translate in her head in English what the brothers were saying because she knew that the boys would tell her to lay off. She looked at Shade. "Aren't you supposed to be leading the way?"

"It's fine, I just told them to keep going straight," Shade said. "Plus they needed to discuss something."

"Those guys are great," Holden said. "I don't know what you two were so worried about but they seemed pretty cool. You should get to know them better."

Kassidy looked at Holden annoyed. "I'm not buying it."

"Kass, lighten up, besides I feel safe around them."

"So it doesn't bother you that these guys eat meat?" Marina asked.

"So what? Kassidy and I are omnivores while you guys are insectivores."

"You literally puked all over the inside of a tree when you saw them eating owls," Kassidy said.

"No!" Holden said fast as soon as Kassidy finished her sentence. "The reason why I threw up was that I was flying too much."

Kassidy knew Holden was lying but she didn't continue any further about it.

"Guys, trust us," Shade said. "You won't regret having them traveling us."

Kassidy looked from Martin and Dianna to the brothers and she hoped that the boys were right because those four giant bats were the reasons why the owls were hunting down not only them but the Silverwings as well.

* * *

**A/N- Well that takes care of this chapter. I was hoping to write more in this chapter but I figured that this would be enough. Not how I wanted this chapter to be but it looks fine. Things are about to get crazy though for these four friends as they keep traveling with their new so-called 'amigos'. That's all I wanted to say and next chapter will be out soon, later.**


	22. To Be, or Not to Be

**Chapter 22**

**To Be, or Not to Be**

* * *

They were all roosting after a while of flying and it was Shade's suggestion to roost. Kassidy had her back against a tree with one of her feet against the bark of it as she easily had her other foot on a tree branch and she had her arms crossed as she was listening to the boys' conversation with their new supposedly friends and allies. The more she listened the more she wanted to fall asleep and not listen any further but it would be pretty rude of her to do so. Plus she wanted to gather the best of information she could get from these giant bats, so she knew she had to pay close attention to the way they spoke and made their facial expressions. She and Marina barely said a word and were mostly listening to the conversations.

The boys and Marina were hanging below Kassidy on the branch she was on while on the other branch close enough to them the giant bats were on, the two spouses were hanging upside down on it while the brothers were merely standing on it. What was irritating Kassidy was the fact that Dianna was sharpening her claws like they were daggers with a rock big enough for her to hold. Kassidy remained calm however and tried not to yell at Dianna to knock off her crap. She noticed that the brothers looked a little irritated too every time Dianna slid her rock across one of her claws. Martin on the other hand just had his arms crossed as he was next to his wife. The boys didn't seem to mind but Marina didn't look comfortable when she kept staring at Dianna's claws as they were being sharpened.

"How do you little bats survive this cold?" Goth asked. "Where we are from it is warm and sunny all year round, makes a bat grow to a reasonable size." Goth spread opened his wings and he started to laugh. Kassidy didn't even see how that was funny and she showed no expression to this whatsoever but she slowly shook her head. "As a Prince, I am a magnificent specimen, even in my colony's standards."

Throbb chuckled and then he started to cough and Kassidy assumed he might've been coughing on a fly that flew into his mouth. Kassidy then noticed that Martin was rubbing his temples irritably, either because he was getting a headache from Dianna's claws getting sharpened or the fact he didn't want to listen to Goth talk about himself. Kassidy probably assumed he heard Goth talk too much about himself. Kassidy could easily compare Goth to Holden and Chinook. Dianna, on the other hand, didn't seem to care for what Goth was saying.

"Tch," Kassidy said as she rolled her eyes and this earned a look from Goth. She stared at Goth as if to dare him to say something to her as she furrowed her brow.

"How'd you end up so far from home?" Marina asked.

Kassidy wanted to thank Marina out loud for asking the giant bats that question but she kept silent. But she then noticed that Dianna tapped Martin on the shoulder as she dropped her rock to the ground and when Martin looked at her she gestured with her hand to come closer. He moved his face closer to her and then she started to whisper something in his ear while she had her hand cupped near his ear and whatever it was that Dianna whispered in his ear obviously made Martin smirk.

"Oh eh… the royal guard was not acting with his ears wide open," Goth said while frowning and Kassidy then saw that Martin cupped his hand near Dianna's ear and he then whispered something to her and this made her giggle and Kassidy was looking at them confused again. "The daily humans captured us-" Goth stopped in the middle of something he was about to say and he was looking below him with his eyes widened and Kassidy knew what he was looking at.

When the others saw what Kassidy and Goth were staring at their eyes widened to see Martin and Dianna making out. Their tongues were intertwined as Dianna had her hands gripped on Martin's mane as if she was trying to taste him better and Martin had his hand on her back. Shade and Marina looked disgusted by what they were seeing. Kassidy then noticed that Martin was slowly bringing his hand down Dianna's back and Kassidy couldn't even believe they were doing something like that at a time like this and she furrowed her brow in outrage.

Martin and Dianna stopped what they were doing and they looked up to see that everyone was watching them. Martin cleared his throat and he smoothed out his mane as he smiled. "Forgive us; we got a little carried away."

Holden smiled and he then started to laugh. "No hard feelings man, my girlfriend and I sometimes get carried away when it comes to making out."

Martin stopped smoothing out his mane as he looked at Holden. "A girlfriend, eh? You must be lucky, boy."

"Oh, yeah. She's one of the hottest chicks in…" Holden looked at Kassidy and Kassidy held her breath and hoped he wouldn't give away that they were humans. Holden looked back at Martin. "In the colony. She's one of the most popular bats, kind of like how I'm pretty popular in the colony. If you ever saw her you can tell that she's a fox." Holden laughed.

Shade, Marina, Goth, and Throbb looked at Holden confused at the last thing he just said. Holden turned sheepish when he realized that they didn't understand what he just said and Kassidy noticed that Martin and Dianna didn't look confused about what Holden said which was interesting to her to say the least.

"It means she's very attractive," Holden said as he rubbed his neck.

"What's a fox?" Throbb asked.

"They're omnivores that belong to the dog family," Kassidy said. "They're about medium size and they stand on four legs."

Martin looked at Kassidy. "You seem like you know your facts. You must've been paying attention to know this sort of stuff."

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? I learn from the best."

Kassidy noticed that Marina was looking at the giant bats' bands. Marina then looked at her own band. Kassidy then noticed that Dianna was smiling at her and she had her teeth slightly on the side of one of her claws. "I forgot to mention that Marina here has a band like us, only it's silver."

Martin, Goth, and Throbb looked at Marina's band and Marina looked slightly embarrassed that Dianna mentioned her band out loud that she hid it behind her wing. "No need to cover it, little lady," Martin said. "It must've been very difficult for you when those overgrown sized monkeys took you in as their prisoner."

Kassidy furrowed her brow at Martin. Not all humans were bad even though she was not one to like humans that much. However, it did make her wonder what these four have been through to make them dislike the humans because she could tell that they had a huge disgust for them. Yes, they were captured by them, that was one reason. Whatever these humans-or scientists per say-were doing to them they obviously didn't like it. This made her think that these scientists were trying to help them in some way so that their kind wouldn't go extinct. Or was it the other way around? She sighed and didn't want to think about this any further.

Marina furrowed her brow confused. "The humans? Oh, no, they didn't imprison me. They gave me the band, and let me go, but-"

"They didn't take you to the false jungle?" Goth asked muddled.

Kassidy knew Marina didn't know what a jungle was but Marina then shook her head after a moment of processing what Goth just said.

"What's a jungle?" Shade asked as he flew off his roost to join the four giant bats on their branch.

"A jungle?" Goth asked sounding surprised but he then chuckled as Shade landed on the branch he and the other three giant bats were on. Goth then held out his hands making them look like a picture frame. "A jungle is an explosion of color. Born in the heat and the sun. We live as we choose in our jungle. With the warmth on our wings and our bellies never empty. We eat the most succulent of small birds, the tastiest of lizards and other… small animals." Goth grinned at Shade as he leaned closer into him.

Kassidy didn't like the way Goth was looking at Shade but she then slowly clapped her hands and everyone looked at her. "Wow, I mean wow," Kassidy sneered. "Lovely poem you just said to us, Fancy Wings. I just got one question though." Kassidy's face then turned into a serious one. "Do you take pride in what you say? Because a lot of times having pride is nothing to be proud of."

Her friends looked at her shocked with what she just said but she didn't care whatsoever. Goth looked at her surprised and she waited for him to answer her question but he did not say anything.

Holden then smiled the best smile he could show at the four giant bats. "Well… it sounds pretty cool when you think about it. Kind of makes me want to move there."

Shade smiled at Holden. "Definitely, sounds more like a paradise than up here."

"Tch," Kassidy said. "Right, that's if you want to get eaten by giant ludicrous animals."

Shade and Holden's smiles went down. Holden furrowed his brow at Kassidy. "Well, you just killed the mood here, thanks a lot."

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "Well don't say I warned you when you move to the jungle one day."

Dianna moved some of her hair out of her face and then she looked at Kassidy. "Have you ever seen a jungle before?"

Kassidy's seen pictures of jungles in books and the internet but not in real life and she thought it would've been awesome to see one in real life. She kept her serious look on and she tried to think of what to say. "No, but I've heard stories about it from others. I've heard about piranhas, jaguars, anacondas, orchids, lobster claws, stuff like that."

Goth smirked at Kassidy. "I'm impressed you know so much about the jungle, señorita. You really must have learned from the best."

Kassidy didn't smile back at Goth. "Good to know, Fancy Wings."

Before things could get any more awkward than it already seemed like, the boys started to ask the giant bats more questions and Martin, Dianna, and Goth happily answered their questions while Throbb, on the other hand, looked bored out of his mind. He then mumbled something about being hungry and about going hunting and he flew off from his roost for some hunting. The questions and answers just kept coming and coming.

Kassidy knew she was sounding kind of rude to their new travel buddies but who could blame her? She wasn't one of those people who wanted to trust others immediately, oh, no. She preferably preferred to do it her way. She'll start by slowly getting to know him or her and when she got to know them better that's when she'll decide for herself if that person's worth trusting or not. Right now she just couldn't see any reason as to why she should trust the giant bats.

"Alright, I think we've spoken too much about us," Martin said as he stood upright with Dianna. "How about you? Tell us something we don't know about."

Shade instantly smiled. "Oh, well we Silverwings live as we choose to too." Kassidy furrowed her brow at Shade like he was crazy as he said it trying to impress the giant bats. "Like the rule that bats can't look at the sun. Well, Kassidy, Holden, and I did, even if the owls didn't like it."

Kassidy clucked her tongue. "Shade, I don't know if you have amnesia or not but the owls burned down Tree Haven."

Holden looked at Kassidy annoyed. "But let's not forget that those owls have gone mad. I mean look at what happened. I almost got killed by one of them and now I got a scar right here." Holden pointed at his back using his thumb. "And you almost got killed when you were trying to save Tree Haven and not only that they were going to have you killed all because you're a witch."

Kassidy kept staring at Holden with her brows furrowed but she knew Holden had a point about the owls. But the only reason why the owls were after her, her friends and her colony was because they thought they had something to do with the killings of the pigeons. Especially her.

"They wanted to kill Kassidy all because she's a witch?" Martin asked.

Shade looked crossed when Martin mentioned the owls. "That and because they think she used her magic on my colony to ambush the pigeons and kill them. A lot are afraid of her because she's a witch and the way she looks. A lot have even called her demon or devil, it wasn't just the owls. One of the owls, however, did say that she might bring destruction to the birds and the beasts, but I don't believe she would."

Kassidy didn't even want to talk about what those animals have been calling her lately. However, it did make her a little angry just hearing the words _demon_ and _devil_. If there was such thing as a word eliminator to demolish words for good and she had to choose a couple of words to get rid of those two words would've been the words she would've gladly chosen. She could easily remember those exact same words Brutus said about her bringing chaos to a lot and she didn't want to believe it, she just couldn't.

"Very tragic, I must say," Dianna said. "But I can see why a lot would be afraid of her."

Kassidy narrowed her eyes at Dianna and wanted to tell her that not everyone was but she decided it was not worth it.

"Why did your males not save you?" Goth asked.

"Believe us, man, even if they did try to save us everything would've been a disaster anyways," Holden said.

"Yeah, but they weren't there," Shade said. "They were waiting for us at Stonehold." The three giant bats looked at Shade confused. "That's where we were getting to migrate to before the owls attacked." Shade stood upright as he looked angry once again about the owls. "I hate the owls even more than I hate that treaty."

"Treaty?" Martin asked. "What treaty are we talking about here?"

Shade looked at Martin. "Basically the bats were punished for not taking sides in the battle of the birds and the beasts. That's why we have to fly at night."

Shade then flew up to a higher branch from the giant bats and he then roosted on the tree branch and as he did, Kassidy saw Martin thinking and then he looked at his wife and partner with a smirk. He then looked at Shade. "You know this whole thing can come to an end once and for all. We, after all, wouldn't want you or your friends here to suffer any further."

Shade looked at Martin interested in what he was saying. "How can it end though? It's not like one small bat can knock out one large animal."

"That may be true, boy, but imagine this. A colony of huge bats coming here to end this persecution, teaching the owls a lesson or two about why they shouldn't mess with bats. With our strength and speed, we'd be able to end this malice that the owls are bringing to you and many others." Martin then roughly put his hand on Goth's back and Goth looked like he was about to lose his balance but he kept himself in place. "My good friend here being a Prince and all would be most obliged to send an army of his best soldiers up here." Martin then looked at Goth as he put his hand down from his back. "Right, Goth?"

Kassidy could see some annoyance in Goth's eyes as he looked at Martin but he then looked back at Shade with a smile. "Of course, it wouldn't be right not to help." He then pointed at Shade. "You Shade, could be my Commander and Chief." Shade had his mouth wide open and this certainly surprised Kassidy and the rest of her friends. "I think you have the makings of a great warrior!"

Shade gasped but he then smiled.

Kassidy couldn't believe what she was hearing and she for sure knew she didn't have a lot of earwax in her ears to be hearing things. Even as this did sound strange and crazy at the same, Shade looked ecstatic about what he just heard and Holden was even smiling for him. Kassidy was no expert on military positions but she knew one thing for sure was that if someone was to be a Commander in Chief they would need a lot of experience and they had to earn it by proving themselves. Besides, Shade didn't even have the experience even if he wanted something like that but she didn't want to say it out loud because she didn't want to hurt Shade's feelings. But the more she thought about Martin saying that Goth could bring an army of other Vampyrum bats up here the more she realized that things could only bring more problems.

She and Marina looked at each other and they knew they were thinking the same thing. They certainly were going to have a lot of talking to do later.

Holden flew up to Shade and landed next to him. "Holy crap, Shade, that's a huge position for someone to have! You can't lose this opportunity!"

Shade slowly looked at Holden still smiling. "I feel like I'm dreaming. Pinch me." Without thinking, Holden punched Shade in the arm. "Ow!" Shade rubbed his arm as he looked at Holden annoyed. "I said pinch not punch!"

"I know," Holden said. "I just felt like doing it."

"Holden does make a good point, amigo," Goth said, still smiling. "This position is a very important one and it'll be something you don't want to pass on as he said. Your Father must be very proud."

Shade then looked gloomy after what Goth said and he had his eyes down and sighed and this made Holden's smile go down and he and the girls looked at Shade concerned. The three giant bats looked at Shade confused.

"Are you alright, Shade?" Dianna asked.

"I… don't have a Father," Shade said quietly. "Uh, Cassiel, my Dad… disappeared while scouting one night. They say the owls took him…"

Kassidy looked at Shade sadly and couldn't stand to see him like this. All she wanted to do right now was go down there and hug Shade and tell him that everything would be alright but she just couldn't find it in herself to move from her spot. Right now she felt like a bad friend for not doing that.

Goth flew up to the boys and he landed next to Shade. "Ah, a boy… without a Father." He then put his hand on Shade's shoulder for comfort and this made Kassidy want to go down there and push Goth away from Shade, but she knew Shade needed comfort right now.

Holden smiled weakly at Shade. "You may not have your Father, but at least you have us."

Shade looked at Holden and he looked like he wanted to spill tears but Kassidy could tell he was trying to hold them in. Shade then smiled weakly and nodded. "Thanks, Holden."

Kassidy sighed as she looked down sadly and she didn't want to but she thought about her parents and her kidnapped family. Brushing it aside has just proven to be too difficult for her and how could she just brush them aside just like that? She just couldn't. She loved and missed them very much.

When Kassidy looked up she saw that Martin was staring at her with those snake looking eyes. Kassidy thought that maybe Martin was looking at something else, but no. He was staring directly at her. The way he looked at her was kind of creeping her out but she tried not to show it whatsoever.

"So, Kass," Martin said and everyone turned their attention to him. "Are you good with magic?"

Kassidy couldn't believe Martin would change the subject just like that but she figured he wanted to talk about something else since things seemed too sad right now. Everyone was now looking at her like she was about to do improv. She then breathed in the cold air. "I… guess."

"Do you enjoy using magic?" Martin asked.

"It depends."

"On what?"

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "On how I feel."

Martin then smiled and chuckled. "I must say you intrigue me a lot, Kass. It's not everyday I get to meet someone like you. Your parents must be very proud of what you've become."

Kassidy's heart sank at the mention of her parents and she looked away from Martin sadly and her ears went flat. "I prefer not to talk about them…"

It was silent for a while and all that could be heard were crickets and it felt very awkward. Kassidy didn't know if anyone would say anything but she didn't care. She no longer cared as long as if no one said a thing further about her parents.

"May I ask why you don't want to talk about them?" Martin asked. Kassidy didn't look at Martin but she slowly started to get angry when Martin brought up the topic of her parents. "Did they abandon you at a young age and they left to go somewhere else?" Kassidy felt her hands turn into fists and as they were now curled into fists she could feel the heat coming inside her and it was bubbling slowly. She wanted Martin to stop talking and she couldn't find it in herself to do her breathing technique as she bared her teeth. "Perhaps they weren't good parents and didn't care-"

"My parents never abandoned me and they cared about me," Kassidy shouted at Martin in rage and the flames erupted all over her body and everyone looked at her surprised. "Who the hell do you think you are of questioning about my parents!? My parents would do no such thing and they loved me! My parents are dead! You hear me!? Dead, you son of a-"

"Kass," Marina shouted to try and calm her down.

Kassidy slid her hands through her hair angry but sad at the same time as she continued to bare her teeth but the flames on her died. Having enough of this, Kassidy took off from her branch and flew deep into the forest.

* * *

Holden couldn't believe that Kassidy lost control of her anger again. He could even tell that everyone here was surprised by her reaction. It was exactly the same anger she felt back at the cathedral. When Martin was trying to ask Kassidy about her parents he could see the anger on her face. He thought Martin didn't mean to upset Kassidy like that and he knew Martin didn't really know what happened to her parents but Holden said to Kassidy that he wouldn't give away that they were actually humans.

Then Holden saw Marina look at Martin angrily and she had her teeth bared at him. "What's your problem? She didn't want to talk about it!"

Martin looked at Marina as did the others. "No need to yell, little lady. I was just trying to make talk with her."

"You know a lot have stuff that they don't like to talk about!"

"Marina, calm down," Holden said. "Look, let's just let Kassidy be alone for now and let her calm down. Let's just forget that this ever happened."

Marina looked at Holden. "Holden, you know how she can be. She might not get over this."

"Martin didn't mean to, Marina," Shade said. "I know because they're new and barely know us."

Holden could tell Marina wanted to argue with Shade but instead, she sighed and looked to where Kassidy disappeared off to. He did the same thing and he hoped that Kassidy would calm down soon.

* * *

She did it again… she let her anger get the best of her once again. She couldn't find it in herself to try and breathe and her heart continued to sink as the Titanic did. She couldn't get over Martin's words and it still made her angry to the part where she wanted to burn something, of course, it wasn't going to be an animal.

Kassidy was on her knees near a pond and she was hugging herself as she had her head down. She was glad she didn't see her friends' reactions once again to her anger because she didn't want to think about it. However, she didn't know how the three giant bats reacted to this but she didn't care. They probably didn't care about her like her friends and family did.

She then looked at her reflection in the pond and she saw her gothic self staring back at her. She thought when you look at your own reflection you can understand who you truly are and right now she understood what she was. She was a misfit, a witch… an orphan… a depressed teenager.

She then heard thunder and then it started to drizzle rain. The thunder sounded again as she continued to stare at her reflection but she didn't care for the thunder or the rain, but as she continued to stare she swore she saw a younger and happier girl that was her laughing and playing with her parents. Kassidy put her hands to her eyes and as she did, her anger surged and the fire on her erupted slowly and then she growled and she looked back at the pond and started to splash the water very hard and it went on for a while. She couldn't stand to look at herself. Looking at herself could only remind her that she had half of what she took from her parents.

After a while of splashing the water, Kassidy then started to breathe hard when she stood up but she didn't dare to cry. She held it in but closed her eyes and bared her teeth.

Kassidy then heard rustling and when she turned around she saw standing near a bush looking at her shocked was Throbb. Kassidy didn't want to deal with this, especially not with Throbb. She furrowed her brow at him and he looked like he was going to say something but Kassidy didn't want to hear it and she flew off.

* * *

The raindrops were not like the ones he was used to back in the jungle. They were icy cold and the way they landed on him did not seem right to him. How could anyone even stand this sort of weather?

Goth was flying a little far back from the four insectivore bats with Throbb, Martin, and Dianna. He hoped Martin knew what he was doing because he wanted to be out of this strange place as soon as possible. Nothing about this place looked anything like the jungle. He couldn't understand the trees here, some with spindly leafless branches and others with sharp prickly needles. He still couldn't stand the coldness and every time the wind blew he would start shivering violently. The sooner he was free from this northern wasteland the better.

As they kept on flying and following the four insectivore bats, Goth couldn't help but notice that Martin and Dianna didn't seem like they were cold. In fact, when he and Throbb started working together with them he's noticed that they never looked like they were freezing no matter how cold the wind felt. He thought perhaps they've gotten used to the weather up here since they were first brought to their fake jungle. It kind of irritated him that they didn't seem to mind the cold while he and Throbb couldn't take their minds off of it.

When Goth was back in the city with Throbb, Martin, and Dianna, Martin said he needed to have copies of Goth and Throbb's bands for him and Dianna so he wouldn't draw any suspicion from the insectivore bats. It was a good idea, no doubt about it. Shade and Holden seemed to trust them, however, he could tell that Kassidy and Marina were having doubts about them and he could easily tell. Especially when Kassidy yelled at Martin. The way the fire was on her body when she yelled at Martin made it look like she was an actual devil. Throbb even told him privately that he saw her with flames on her and she was viciously hitting and splashing at a pond. Martin really must've gotten to her.

As Goth was trying not to let the rain bug him, he could hear Throbb clattering his teeth. "How can it be so cold and… wet and… cold?" Throbb asked.

Dianna rolled her eyes and she grunted annoyed at Throbb's whining. "Because that's weather and that's how this weather here has been for some time now. So suck it up, we're going to be here for a while." Throbb whined again and Dianna looked at Goth. "You might want to control him here if he keeps it up. If he keeps whining I'll make him stop whining a different way." Dianna then looked at Throbb slowly and this made Throbb look a little skittish. "A very different way."

Goth sighed annoyed but he really couldn't blame Dianna. Throbb had done a lot of complaining lately and he's pretty much been embarrassing Goth to the point that he wanted to take Throbb back to the fake jungle and keep him there and then he could continue on his own with Martin and Dianna but he has tried to be patient with him but his patience has pretty much run out and he could tell that Martin and Dianna were sick and tired of Throbb's attitude.

Goth looked at Throbb with his brow furrowed. "Just stay quiet, will you? I've had enough of you to deal with lately."

Goth then heard Martin chuckling and the three of them looked at him. "Dianna, let's not get rough here but as much as I like to see you get rough you might want to save it for the big occasion."

Martin was smirking at Dianna and then slowly Dianna started to smirk as well. "Of course, I should save it for when the time comes."

Goth and Throbb looked at each other and then they looked back at their partners. "What occasion, amigos?" Goth asked.

Martin chuckled more. "For your departure back to the jungle, my friend. Your time of eating a whole colony will soon be here and when that day comes, your tongues will taste the sweetness of blood as it oozes down your throats and as your teeth crunch the hard bones and the best parts of the meat. Have patience and have your eyes on the prize. I mean why settle for four young bats when you have a whole colony to look forward to feasting on?" And right on cue, a low rumble was heard from the sky as Martin and Dianna kept their smirks up.

Goth and Throbb looked at each other and they smirked and then they looked back straight ahead and kept following the insectivore bats. Martin's words about bat blood and bat flesh hungered Goth to keep going farther until they can eventually find the colony and so Goth can slice through and bite through their skin deeply and see them bleed that dark, red blood like he was going to cut some sort of fruit. He could already picture the whole hunt in his head.

As they kept following the insectivore bats, Goth couldn't help but look at Kassidy. She barely spoke to anyone or looked at any of them and was mostly keeping to herself since she yelled at Martin. He could tell she was still angry about what Martin said but he could also see depression in her eyes. He thought she must've been through a lot when her parents died and you could tell by the way she yelled at Martin. He did see her with fire in her hands but not on her whole body and when he did this really did make him freeze in place like he needed to. Martin hadn't apologized to her and Goth didn't know if he would or not.

As Goth kept staring at her, he then hummed to himself and started to form an idea.

* * *

**A/N- I can't tell you enough of how proud I am to get another chapter done. I enjoy writing, I really do and when I was looking off my notes of what I wanted to write in this chapter I felt excited. **

**For the title of this chapter, you might recognize it from somewhere. If you don't it's a quote from one of Shakespeare's plays and the play that this quote can be found from is in Hamlet. I love Shakespeare's plays and there are so many good quotes from his plays.**

**As far as getting chapters in-you know what? I'm not even going to say what my schedule is like because I think you all pretty much know what my schedule is like. Well, the next chapter will be out soon and until then have a nice day.**


	23. Bad Bat Blood

**Chapter 23**

**Bad Bat Blood**

* * *

Kassidy and the others continued on their way to get to the southern valley. To Kassidy, it felt like hours they've been flying out here in the forest, but it was probably because she'd been thinking too much of what happened a while ago. She barely spoke to anyone and whenever she spoke it was only one line and that was it. She also barely ate anything but she didn't feel hungry which was strange because that was usually never the case. She made sure to eat healthily but she never worried about her weight because she was like an ox because of all the exercising she did. She made sure to have a proper meal everyday.

It stopped raining a while ago but she could still smell the wetness that was about and could practically taste it as well and it was very dreary out here like she was. Shade and Marina sometimes asked her if she was alright but she always made sure to tell them that she was, even though she wasn't. Holden was the only one that didn't ask her if she was alright, which was strange. It wasn't she wanted to push them away she just didn't want to talk about her outburst at Martin. She actually didn't feel guilty yelling at Martin because he had no right to ask her any further about her parents, even when she specifically told him that she didn't want to talk about it. It angered her still.

Right now all she wanted to do was read a good book or continue on with the story she was writing. But of course, she couldn't. Whenever she read books or wrote anything it was like escaping from all her worries, the stress, and her anger to the world. Right now she wouldn't be escaping into her books or writing. But she could maybe come up with ideas for her next chapter in her story.

She began to think about what she wanted next in her chapter. As she was thinking, idea after idea was coming in her mind and they all seemed like great ideas but she didn't know which to choose and what not to choose. Oh, if only she had a pencil and some paper to write on. She could maybe remember it by heart… maybe.

As she was lost in her thoughts, Kassidy didn't realize that someone was flying next to. "Hola, señorita."

Kassidy snapped out of her thoughts to hear the smooth Spanish accent of Goth's. She looked at Goth and he was smiling at her. Kassidy then scowled at him. "Yeah? What do you want?"

"I just thought I would check on you to see if you're alright."

Kassidy's friends were the only ones that asked her if she was alright but she never thought that Goth would ask her. To Kassidy, he always seemed like he liked getting a lot of attention like most guys when you know they're pretty popular. She could tell from the looks of him he looked like he was always showered with praises from his people. He was nicely built like Martin was and his wings were like a cape when he wrapped them around himself and if Kassidy had to guess from her calculations what his wingspan was, she'd probably guess three feet. He had a large angular head, tall pointed ears, and a strange flat nose that flared upward into a spike. His eyes were large, unblinking, and very green (but not as green as Dianna's).

What was strange about him was that his snout was more like that of a beast than a bat. Comparing him and Martin, Kassidy had to say that Martin was much creepier than Goth because he was much stranger because of his snake-like look. The next thing you know, Martin reveals that he's actually a giant snake. Kassidy wasn't afraid of these four giant bats, even though she could tell that Martin was pretty experienced with magic.

Kassidy didn't stop scowling at Goth. "And as you can clearly tell, I'm not in a good mood." She then looked away from the Prince.

Prince. That word could only make Kassidy laugh on the inside. She wasn't really a fan of fairytales, especially when it involved _Princes _or _Princesses. _Those stories were pretty old to her and to now think that she was traveling with one. She literally wanted to roll her eyes but she managed to hold it back.

"I'd like to apologize about my partner," Goth said nicely. "Sometimes he can be-"

"An ass?" Kassidy asked as she looked at Goth.

Goth looked like he wanted to laugh at Kassidy's remark. "I was going to say difficult to deal with, but that works as well."

Kassidy thought that Martin should be the one apologizing and not Goth. But it was okay with Kassidy that Goth was one of the giant bats that checked up on her. "Do you get along with him?"

Goth sighed. "I wish I could say I did but I would only then be lying to not only you but to myself, so not really. We usually have our disagreements over something."

"I see." Kassidy then looked away from Goth.

"You really don't trust us, do you?"

Kassidy looked back at Goth. "I have a hard time trusting others, especially when it comes to strangers. You and your companions are still strangers to me. When I trust someone I'm fully committed to sticking by them until my last breath. But if I don't I can be their worst nightmare."

Goth's expression was pretty blank and Kassidy couldn't tell what he was thinking at the moment. He then smiled again. "Well, I hope we can earn your trust somehow."

"We'll see, Fancy Wings."

Kassidy then breathed in the damp air and as she did, Marina then started to speak. "I think we've reached the southern valley."

Kassidy and Goth looked up ahead and they saw Shade flying up high over the treetops and Holden and Marina started to follow as well. Kassidy took her chance to soar up high as well and when she got up high she could feel her breath stuck in her throat as she saw before her the valley. The landscape was beautiful to say the least. The landscape would be nice for some photography and some painting. Kassidy wished her family was here to see this. She could already picture her cousins' faces as they stare at the landscape in awe, as her Aunt and Uncle would say how beautiful it looked, and as she could see Raven running like a wild animal she could be.

This made her smile weakly.

"Enjoying the view?" Goth asked as he flew next to her.

Kassidy immediately dropped her smile and she cleared her throat. "Yeah, sure, it's okay," she said trying to act casual.

Deep down though, she knew that this view was amazing and she could tell that Goth knew as well.

Martin, Dianna, and Throbb then joined them up high as Holden looked at everyone with a smile. "Making progress peeps!"

"Yeah, but how are we ever going to find the colony?" Marina asked.

Holden's smile then went down as he looked around him. "Uh…"

"If I may," Martin interjected Holden and this made Kassidy scowl at him, not wanting to hear his voice. "Shade, if you call up your sound map, together we could try to figure out where your colony is."

Kassidy gasped and she immediately closed her mouth before it got any louder. She noticed that Goth was looking at her confused. "Everything alright, señorita?"

Kassidy used her eyes to look from Goth to Shade. "Yeah, just thought I… saw something."

Not waiting to see what Goth's reaction was, Kassidy looked at Shade. _Shade, don't you dare shout out the next destination. Don't. You. Dare. _To Kassidy's shock, Shade closed his eyes and he was concentrating, by that she could tell he was summoning the sound map. She cussed inside her head.

"I-I see... a countryside" Shade said as he struggled a little with his concentration. "I see cities, cathedrals… ugh... now I see towers. They are consumed by flames and there are lines of fires shooting in and out of them." Then unable to say more, Shade almost fell from the sky but he regained his flight in time.

Kassidy tried not to yell at Shade in front of everyone and she held her tongue for the sake of it. But what Shade said did not make any sense to her, whatsoever. It was like he was saying their next landmark was supposed to be volcanoes but that would be the most dangerous place for anyone to try and roost at.

"You've given us something to work with, Shade," Martin said with a smirk.

Kassidy looked at Martin and she felt her hands clench into fists.

Then, she noticed that Goth and Throbb were sniffing the air like they were pigs sniffing out for truffles. They then started to smile as the brothers started to look at each other and Kassidy knew what they were thinking. Food.

Martin cleared his throat. "If you'll excuse us, Dianna and I told these two about this part of the valley having descent but succulent meals."

Kassidy furrowed her brow confused. "How do you two know that?"

Martin smirked at Kassidy. "We've been hearing conversations from others. Plus we heard the lunch special here is excellent."

Martin and Dianna chuckled and they took off down into the trees of the forest and without a second thought, Goth and Throbb followed them. Kassidy watched as they disappeared into the forest and as she did she then looked at Shade pretty mad and her friends could tell that she was. "Damn it, Shade! How could you blurt out your sound map like that?"

Shade furrowed his brow at Kassidy. "Seriously, will you calm down? It's not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal? They had no right to hear about it. Thanks to you, now they know where our next landmark is."

Holden got near Kassidy annoyed. "Will you just relax? It's just one landmark that Shade said was our next destination. Who cares? It's not like they're going to spread it around to others."

"It matters to me because something is not right about them."

"For the love of God, is this still about Martin talking to you about your parents? He didn't know about them."

"Well, he still had no right to talk about them like he and the other three giant bats had no right to hear about the next destination in Shade's sound map."

"It's my sound map, Kass," Shade said as he got next to her. "I can say whatever I want about it."

Marina got next to Shade annoyed. "Well, what you just said was pretty stupid of you."

Shade looked at Marina. "You know, I think maybe you've been on that island so long you don't know how to trust a friend."

Marina got in Shade's face as they bared their teeth at each other angrily. "Better friendless than clueless."

"Humph." Shade then took off into the forest not caring what Kassidy and Marina said.

Holden looked back at Kassidy. "You might want to try and trust Martin, Dianna, Goth, and Throbb, Kass. I think you being alone too much has made you the grouch you are." Kassidy looked at Holden with an icy glare as did Marina. "Try having a conversation with them, you might learn something new from them. Sometimes I feel like you don't try hard enough." Holden then flew off and Kassidy bared her teeth angrily at Holden. Holden looked over his shoulder back at Kassidy. "Besides, Martin might be our only chance of getting home."

Holden then disappeared into the woods, leaving Kassidy and Marina floating in the sky. Kassidy closed her eyes and she started to do her breathing technique. As Kassidy thought about what Holden said about Martin he did kind of make sense. Martin did have magic, but did he have a way to help them to transform back into humans?

"I can't believe they won't listen to us," Marina said as Kassidy stopped doing her breathing technique.

Kassidy then sighed. "This whole thing is just bonkers, Marina."

Kassidy then started to think about Martin and Marina looked at her concerned. "You okay?"

Kassidy looked at Marina. "I don't know… something about Martin though. It just doesn't make any sense."

"What do you mean?"

"The way he acts towards us as do his companions." Kassidy looked towards where Martin disappeared off to. "I'm going to spy on him."

Kassidy was about to go into the woods but Marina got in front of her. "Kass, what if Martin sees you?"

"I'll just make up an excuse and don't worry. I'll make sure he won't have any suspicions of what I'm up to." Kassidy then flew around Marina.

"Kass." Kassidy looked back at Marina. "Be careful."

Kassidy nodded and went to go look for Martin. She sometimes used her echo vision in the woods as she flew but so far all she's seen was just nature. She circled places a few times to see if she missed anything but there was nothing. There was no Martin.

Then, she heard something crunch and as she did she thought it sounded like bones being crushed and… muffling? She flew to where she heard the sound coming from and when she thought she was close enough to it she landed on a tree branch quietly and she looked to see what the commotion was and as she did the muffling stopped. On the ground, she saw Martin holding a dead squirrel in his jaw. He then placed the squirrel on the ground and started to eat it. Kassidy wasn't disgusted by what she was seeing, she was used to that. She even dissected a frog at school.

As soon as Martin was finished with his squirrel, he used his magic to make the corpse disappear and then he flew off from the ground and started to head towards somewhere and as he did, Kassidy carefully flew off from the branch she was on and started to follow him as quietly as she could. She sometimes had to hide behind trees so he wouldn't think he was being followed and when she thought he didn't she continued to follow him like a ninja. After a few minutes of following Martin, she saw him land near a pond and as he did, Kassidy took it upon herself to hide behind a tree and she started to observe Martin. She had her back to the tree as she used her head to look towards Martin and she saw that Martin was drinking from the pond. She narrowed her eyes as she hummed to herself, waiting for Martin to do something.

As she continued to watch she didn't realize that someone landed near her. "What're you doing?" Kassidy jumped but she then put her fists up and looked at whoever it was and she saw that it was Goth standing in front of her with his hands up. "Whoa, take it easy. It's just me, no need to bring your fists up."

Kassidy sighed annoyed and she put down her fists. "Jesus, you're lucky I didn't break your face."

Goth crossed his arms. "What're you even staring at?"

Kassidy cussed in her head as she tried to think of something. "I just thought I-" Kassidy looked back to Martin but to her surprise and frustration, Martin was gone. She cursed at Goth in her head but she tried not to show she was angry at him as she turned to look back at him. "Saw something… again."

"You seem like you've been seeing a lot of things lately," Goth said.

"I guess it's because of the lack of food I've had today. I should probably go do some hunting."

Kassidy immediately took off and started to find something to chomp on to make it look like she was actually going to do some hunting. As she was trying to search for some sort of insect to eat, she noticed that Goth was following her. She was getting annoyed with him and she wanted him to leave her alone. But she didn't want to be rude to him just yet.

Kassidy then saw a few beetles flying by and she then produced a net of sound on the nearest beetle and as soon as she did she locked onto the target. She then flew after it at a fast speed and the beetle was trying to outsmart her but it was not as smart as Kassidy. She then flipped forward when she was near it and then she crushed her teeth into it. Easy peasy.

She then planted her feet on a nearby tree branch and swung upside-down just so that she could eat her beetle and it was at least something she could eat for the day. She didn't know if she would go get some more food but she highly doubted it. Although she should focus on getting more food into her system because winter would be here soon and she knew how the bugs could get this time around.

As she finished down her beetle, Goth planted his feet as well on the same tree branch Kassidy was on and swung upside-down. "Nice catch."

Kassidy looked at Goth. "It's nothing really, just trying to survive the wild."

Kassidy then took off and started to fly somewhere. She didn't know where but all she wanted to do was get away from Goth but as expected he was flying next to her. She tried to stay calm and focus on flying but she couldn't get over the fact that Goth was staring at her. She tried not to look at him but this was really weird to her.

After a few seconds of trying not to look at Goth, she then looked at him and he was smiling at her. This made her confused. "Why are you staring at me like a pervert?"

"Forgive me," Goth said. "I just can't stop looking at the drawings and that thing around your neck. I actually like it."

Even though Kassidy was glad that someone for a change didn't mind what she had on her, she thought that Goth was weird. "Okay…" She then looked away from him and they were silent for a couple of minutes.

"Señorita," Goth said breaking the silence. "I just gotta say, you're one fierce fighter.

Kassidy's eyes widened and she felt like her heart was going to stop as memories came flooding through her mind. Fierce fighter. That's what her parents would use to say to her. The memories came and came as either her Mom or Dad said that she was a fierce fighter and that was the last thing they said before the car crash. Then the huge truck came into her memory as she was in the car with her parents and then there was nothing left.

She then screamed.

Goth flinched back surprised as Kassidy flew to a nearby tree branch still screaming. She then stopped screaming as she landed on the tree branch and she was breathing hard and had her hands in her hair. Goth landed near her confused but concerned at the same time. Kassidy had her teeth bared in anger and she didn't want to talk to him.

Kassidy then jerked her thumb behind her. "Leave me alone."

"All I said was that you're a fierce fighter," Goth said.

Kassidy looked at Goth furiously. "I said leave me alone!" The flames exploded on Kassidy and Goth flinched back shocked.

The flame then died down on Kassidy as she looked away from Goth and started to do her breathing technique. She then heard a whoosh and could hear Goth flying away. She didn't look to where Goth flew off to. She crossed her arms and had her head down as she couldn't believe that after all this time someone actually mentioned the last thing her parents said to her. She didn't want to hear it again because it only haunted her.

* * *

They found a roost in a cave. It was big enough for the eight of them to sleep in until they had to on move again. The roost was found by Dianna and there were no signs of any animals having possessions of it.

Kassidy was sitting on the floor next to Marina and she was hugging her knees as she couldn't get over what Goth said earlier to her. No one knew that was the last thing her parents said to her but the only one that knew was her. Just her. She didn't want to look at Goth but she could tell that he was looking at her at some points.

Holden and Shade were sitting next to each other across from the girls and they were watching Martin do some magic tricks. Kassidy watched too, but it was mostly because she was trying to prevent herself from looking at Goth and she hated to admit it, Martin had some pretty good skills with his magic. The boys were looking at him in awe and sometimes Marina watched Martin and she was amazed too sometimes but she mostly just groomed her fur.

Dianna was on the ceiling sharpening her nails once again with a rock and Kassidy wondered how many times she needed to do that. Goth and Throbb were on the ceiling as well and they were watching Martin do his magic tricks as well (they had nothing else better to do anyways).

"Man, you're incredible," Holden praised Martin. "What else can you do?"

Martin chuckled. "Many things, boy. Like this." With a couple of snaps of his fingers towards his shadow, his shadow started to move on its own. Holden and Shade had their eyes widened as they saw Martin's shadow moving. Martin's shadow then looked up at Holden and Shade with a smile and started to wave at them. Holden and Shade waved back. "Alright, back to where you belong." Martin snapped his fingers twice again at his shadow and his shadow went back towards where Martin was and stood still as all the other shadows did in the cave.

"Wow," Shade said. "You made your own shadow move."

"It's a very hard skill to learn, boy," Martin said.

_Thank you, Captain Obvious, _Kassidy wanted to say out loud as she rolled her eyes. It was like he was trying to make her jealous.

"Martin, I think we should see what Kassidy can do with her magic," Dianna said.

Kassidy was in no mood to cast any spells for today. Being angry while the fire was spreading all over her body was good enough for her.

Martin smiled at Kassidy. "I think that's a great idea, Dianna. I wouldn't want to be the center of attention for the rest of the day. I think it would only be fair if Kassidy showed us what she could do as well."

Kassidy looked around her and everyone was staring at her. God, how she hated to be stared at. She didn't move an inch and she stayed where she was as she scowled at Martin. "I don't want to."

"No need to be afraid, little lady," Martin said. "You can just do one spell and that's it."

"No, it's not that I'm afraid, I just don't want to."

"One spell wouldn't hurt anybody. Besides, it'll be fun."

"Martin, she doesn't want to," Kassidy was surprised to hear that come out of Goth's mouth.

Martin looked up at Goth. "It's just one spell, my friend. Besides, I know you and Throbb just want to see Kassidy do a spell."

Kassidy could tell from the brothers' faces that Martin looked correct. However, she did see Goth look at Martin irritated.

Martin looked back at Kassidy. "As I said, it won't hurt to-"

Kassidy slammed her hand on the ground as fire erupted on her body. "I said I don't want to!"

The flame demolished as Kassidy did her breathing technique and as she did, Marina had her hand on her back to try and calm her down. Kassidy cursed in her head and this might've been her new record of how many times she exploded into flames.

"Do you not understand the word 'fun'," Holden said derisively at Kassidy, "or are you just always no fun for any apparent reason?"

Kassidy's eyes widened at Holden as did Shade and Marina's as they stared at Holden at what he just said to Kassidy. Kassidy then scowled at Holden. "Do you always say things out loud before you think them or are you just stupid?"

"Whoa, guys," Shade said with his hands up between Kassidy and Holden. "Let's not argue."

Holden scowled at Kassidy as he stood up. "Not everyone is smart like you, Kass! If anyone saw how you're acting right now I can probably guess that they wouldn't want to have that attitude of yours!"

Kassidy got up angrily as Marina tried to pull her down but Kassidy was already walking towards Holden. "Oh please, if anyone saw how you act nowadays they probably wouldn't want to be you right now because of your bratty attitude!"

"Guys, please," Marina said.

"God, you just don't know when to stop being a smart aleck," Holden said. "What is your deal?"

"Come on," Kassidy said, "you knew that I've had a stressful day and you know what you could've thought to yourself? Do you know what you could've said? 'I think I might see if she's alright.'"

Holden looked at her confused and he then crossed his arms. "You said that you didn't want any of us to worry about you that we didn't need to worry about you."

Kassidy threw her hands up and then she threw them down. "Everyone wants to be asked that during bad days."

"So I'm supposed to take it that you wanted me to ask you if you were alright or not?"

"No, this is not-" Kassidy then grunted. "You're not getting it, Holden. You're not getting it. This not about asking me if I'm alright or not. It's about you being a good friend to me."

"Oh, I would've been trying to be a good friend to you. I would've loved that if you weren't pushing a lot away from you."

Kassidy's eyes widened. She didn't know whether she should believe Holden or not. Shade and Marina were staring at the two of them with their eyes widened still. The four giant bats just watched as the whole argument was happening.

Kassidy then bared her teeth at Holden. "Wow, you are just one hell of a good friend," Kassidy said ironically.

"Will you stop arguing?" Shade said as if Kassidy and Holden were his parents.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Holden asked.

"You barely act like a friend to me at some points and not only that we barely do anything as friends."

Holden looked at Kassidy confused. "We did something in the city together."

"Yeah, we did, and that's basically the only thing that the two of us ever did alone. What we did in the city, I did that for you."

"It was for you too, Kass," Holden shouted. "I wanted to do something fun with you in the city just to cheer you up but it seems like you didn't actually appreciate what I did for you! I did it for you because supposedly you're my friend! You're also not the only one that's been having bad days recently! I'm busting my ass off just to keep up with everyone and all you seem to do is nag me!"

Kassidy walked up closer to Holden stilly angry. "You think that I nag you?"

"That's all you do! All you do is nag me!" He then started to put down one finger at a time as he listed all the times Kassidy nagged him. "Holden, be nice: Holden, don't eat that: Holden, come on: Holden, listen! Nothing I ever do is good enough for you, is it? I just want you to leave me alone!"

Everyone stared at Holden surprised. Kassidy had never seen Holden this angry at her. Everyone was silent and no one said anything as Holden walked back over to his spot next to Shade.

Kassidy then scowled and walked towards Holden as he sat down. "Really, is that what you want? Is that what you want?"

Holden looked up at Kassidy still mad. "Yeah."

"That's what you want?"

"Yeah."

"Fine, good, great, because I don't care anymore. You are by far the most selfish, loudmouth, uncaring, jerk I have ever met in my entire life." Holden nodded slowly as he looked away from Kassidy. "Struggle with your hunting, fumble with your flying, fail in life, I don't care. I'm done."

Shade and Marina looked at Kassidy shocked as Holden looked at Kassidy confused. "What?"

"I'm done!" Kassidy said as flames exploded around her. "I don't deserve this! I really don't deserve this! I deserve friends that give a shit about me!" Kassidy then started to walk towards the entrance of the cave as she had her hands up. "I'm not spending one more second in this cave with some inconsiderate prick!" Kassidy then looked back at Holden as she lowered her hands. "You're a prick!"

Holden looked at Kassidy shocked but he then furrowed his brow at her and Kassidy then turned around as the flame demolished on her and she walked towards the entrance of the cave.

"Kass, the sun's gonna come out soon," Shade said.

"I don't care," Kassidy said. "Sun or no sun I'm going to find a different roost."

"Perhaps you would like me to escort you to a different roost?" Martin asked.

Kassidy looked at Martin as the flames appeared on her again. "I don't need your damn protection and I don't even need your damn magic!" The flames then died down once again as Kassidy breathed. "I'll see you all tomorrow." Kassidy then flew out of the cave.

"Kass, come on," Shade shouted to Kassidy, but she ignored him.

* * *

Holden angrily watched as Kassidy left the cave and he didn't care at this point. He hoped an owl would come to pick her up. He didn't know why she had to act that way towards Martin. Sure she got furious when he wouldn't stop mentioning her parents but couldn't she just get over it? Couldn't she at least be a little nice to Martin?

Shade was standing near the cave entrance and he was about to go after Kassidy, but Martin put his hand on his shoulder. "Let her go, she's going to need to have some alone time. I'm sure things will be better tomorrow."

"Pft," Holden said. "If ever."

Marina looked at Holden angrily and she stood up and walked over to Holden. "Was that necessary?"

Holden looked at Marina annoyed. "What? She started it."

"You're just so unbearable at times that are bad. I hope you're happy with what you said because Kassidy's only trying to look out for us."

"Well, maybe she shouldn't have been rude to Martin."

Marina bared her teeth at Holden. "You know what? You're the only one that's being rude here right now. I'm going to roost with Kassidy so that she's not alone."

Shade looked at Marina. "Come on, Marina, not you too." Marina ignored Shade and started to fly out of the cave.

Holden stood up furiously as he got next to Shade near the cave entrance. "Fine! Who needs you two anyways? We got our giant bat friends! You two are by far the most perfect friends and you know why? Because you two are always lonely and don't know when to trust someone!"

Shade looked at Holden. "Holden, calm down, just go roost will you?"

Holden grunted and he so badly wanted to punch the cave wall. He would only break his fist however and he wasn't going to afford to lose his fist.

Holden saw that the four giant bats were still surprised by the events that just happened. He knew this was probably the worst time for him and any of his friends to make a scene but who could blame them? They were angry.

Dianna crossed her arms. "Well, that was something. Reminds me of when I used to bicker with my sisters."

Holden sighed as he slid his hands through his hair. "I feel like I'm getting a headache…" And it was mostly true. He could feel it pounding around his forehead.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked to see that it was Martin. "Well, I think it might be best that you got some rest, boy." He then looked at everyone else. "And I think everyone should get some rest right now. We got a long way ahead of us tomorrow."

"Well, I'll see you all tomorrow then," Goth said and he and Throbb then dozed off to sleep.

Martin flew up to Dianna and he roosted next to her and as soon as he did he wrapped his large wing around her and they then dozed off to sleep as well.

Shade got next to Holden and he smiled at him weakly. "Come on, let's get some sleep."

Holden nodded and the boys flew up to the ceiling and then they hung upside down. Shade then yawned and he fell asleep. Holden sighed as he rubbed his temples and he then looked outside and he could see that it was getting lighter outside. Holden felt tired and he then yawned and fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N- Well that takes care of the next chapter. I hope what I wrote made some sense to all of you because I feel like I didn't make some of the dialogue any sense. Anyway, the next chapter is going to get crazy and I know I say that a lot in some chapters but I like to say it because it's true so I hope that you're not getting annoyed when I say this. **


	24. Skyward

**Chapter 24**

**Skyward**

* * *

_Everything went by fast._

_Her heartbeats were fast as she watched as her Dad was trying to stop the car, but it didn't stop._

_It kept going._

_Kassidy and her parents were going down a hill at a very fast speed and Kassidy was breathing somewhat fast as she saw they were approaching a traffic light. She could only focus her attention straight ahead and didn't pay attention to what her parents were saying or how they were reacting. She then saw that the traffic light turned red and she then saw a huge truck driving forward as they went forward fast and before she could react, everything blacked out._

* * *

Kassidy's eyes shot open and she was breathing hard as sweat made its way down her face. She kept telling herself that it was just a dream and that she wasn't in the same car crash months ago. She hated this dream so much that she wished she could do a spell to make this dream stop but she didn't even know if that was even a thing.

She pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes as she took deep breaths to try and relax. What on earth did she need to do to make this dream go away? Why can't it just leave her alone and wriggle in her some sweet dreams? It was like this dream was punishing her.

Kassidy then wiped the sweat off her face and as she did she then felt a warm breath near her face. She turned to see that Marina was roosting next to her still sleeping. Kassidy was glad for once that she didn't wake anybody up. Or for that matter, Marina.

Last night was hell for Kassidy and she remembered the argument she and Holden had like they were actual enemies. She wouldn't forget what she said to Holden and quite frankly she wouldn't take back what she said. He acted like no friend towards her and to think she thought that they could be friends. She felt like a fool for even trying to be friends with Holden, and who was she to think that Holden would change himself? He was never going to change no matter if he was human, a bat, or anything else.

Even though she was still mad at him, Kassidy had to get Holden home. He, after all, did have a life back in Canada-which was a party life. She'd be glad to get rid of him out of her life as soon as possible and when they got back home to Canada she was going to tell Principal Chester that she was done being Holden's tutor. What she was concerned about, however, was if Holden would try to get evidence from her that she was a witch just so he could reveal to everyone he knew what she truly was. If he did try to do that she was going to do that forgetting spell on him, no matter how hard that spell seemed.

Kassidy and Marina were roosting in a hole of a tree and they were lucky to find one like this before the sun came up. Kassidy was very grateful for Marina for being a good friend and keeping her company after yesterday's argument. She did tell Marina that she didn't have to but she insisted that she wanted to because she was her friend.

The giant bats were getting to her, especially Martin. Even thinking about the name Martin made Kassidy want to wipe it out of existence. That made her laugh on the inside, knowing that could never happen.

She looked towards the knothole of the tree and she saw the sunlight coming through it. Kassidy carefully flew off the ceiling without waking Marina and landed on the ground to look outside. She made sure nothing was out there and she saw no signs of owls coming her way. But then she saw the sun and it was slowly going down. She smiled weakly at how beautiful it looked and it was exactly how she saw it when it was coming up. A huge orb made of fire.

She looked around her some more and she knew this was going to be a stupid idea but at this point, she didn't care anymore. If anyone saw her then she was glad because she thought that bats should have the right to look at the sun. It would be like a protest of some sort.

Kassidy then flew outside and landed on a tree branch of the tree she was roosting in with Marina and started to look at the sun again. She continued to smile weakly as the sun continued to sink further away. The warmth she felt from it was like it was giving her the strength to continue further on her missions to find the colony before the owls did and to find her family. She felt as though the sun was her only hope of staying strong and determined.

Slowly she started to raise her leg and then she put her foot on the side of her thigh and then she slowly brought her hands together and started to meditate. She slowly breathed in and out as the sun was almost gone and as she did the wind blew in her face along with her hair but she didn't flinch. She was as cool as a cucumber.

After a while, she then heard a hoarse-screech. She opened her eyes halfway and what she saw in the sky wasn't an owl but rather a hawk. The hawk was magnificent as it glided in the sky and Kassidy could tell that it was a male. It was a red-tailed one and it was a medium-size and it had long, broad wings and a short, wide tail with a reddish-brown color. The feathers on it were dark brown, light brown, and white and it had a white chest with its belly to it's underwings it had brown lines and spots on it. The hawk looked like a strong warrior with its sharp beak and talons.

Kassidy watched as it glided and as she did she saw the hawk stare at her with those brownish-orange eyes. In those very eyes though she didn't see a bird wanting to attack, instead she saw it looking at her calmly. She wondered if this hawk knew of what was happening. She also wondered what it was going to do next.

Then the hawk turned around and made a flap of its wings and it made no sound and as it did he glided towards the sun that still brightly shined and as it did, Kassidy kind of squinted her eyes but the next thing she knew the hawk was gone and the sun was down. This made her confused.

"Kass, where are you?" Kassidy snapped out of her stance when she heard Marina's voice.

She looked down and she saw Marina poking her head out from the knothole. "I'm up here," Kassidy said.

Marina looked up to Kassidy and she flew out of the knothole towards her. She then landed on the tree branch Kassidy was on. "How long have you been out here for?"

"For a while."

Marina narrowed her eyes at Kassidy. "Kass, were you out here when the sun was still up?"

Kassidy crossed her arms. "Yeah, I was and I don't regret it."

"Kass, you know we can't be out here when the sun's up."

Kassidy rolled her eyes. "Marina, calm down, I'm still standing here and no one's taking me anywhere."

"But still…"

Kassidy put her hands on Marina's shoulders. "Don't worry, what hasn't killed me yet has made me stronger." She then put her hands down from Marina's shoulders.

Marina then sighed. "If you don't want me to worry then you shouldn't do that again."

Even though Kassidy didn't regret looking at the sun again she could tell that she really got Marina worried. She thought it might be best if she didn't do it again, even though it relieved her from the stress she's been going through. When this was all over she would look at the sun again.

"So I've been meaning to talk to you about something," Marina said. "Did you see anything suspicious about Martin yesterday?"

Kassidy sighed. "No, I was trying to spy on him but Goth came to talk to me and that's when I lost sight of Martin. The only thing I saw Martin do was eating a squirrel and drinking water. But next time I'll definitely find something out of the ordinary about those four giant bats."

All the sudden two figures landed behind Marina and they both touched Marina's shoulders using only one hand and Marina screeched and she got behind Kassidy fast. Then Kassidy and Marina heard laughing and they looked to see that it was Martin and Dianna. Marina's eyes were widened in fear but Kassidy looked at them angrily.

"Evening, ladies," Martin said as he and Dianna continued to laugh.

Kassidy bared her teeth at the two spouses. "Are you kidding me? That's not funny! She probably thought it was something else!"

Martin and Dianna wiped away their tears of laughter. "Forgive us," Martin said. "We just couldn't contain ourselves. You have to admit that we got Marina pretty good."

"I can't believe it actually worked," Dianna said.

Kassidy was about to say something but she then saw two figures hang upside-down on a tree branch above them and she looked to see that it was Goth and Throbb. "Is everything alright, amigos?" Goth asked.

Martin walked right in between Kassidy and Marina as he looked at Goth. "Nothing for you to worry about." Martin then put his hands on Kassidy and Marina's shoulders and this made Marina shudder a little while Kassidy looked at him annoyed. "We were just messing with two." He then looked back at Kassidy and Marina. "No hard feelings, right ladies?"

Kassidy and Marina looked at each other and Kassidy could tell that Marina was getting really uncomfortable near Martin. Marina even gulped. Kassidy kept a note in her mind that Martin liked to scare anyone, especially Marina.

"Um… yeah," Marina said nervously.

Kassidy got Martin's hand off her shoulder. "Sure, whatever."

Martin put his hand down from Marina's shoulder and then, Kassidy saw Shade and Holden flying towards them. They then planted their feet on the tree branch Goth and Throbb were on and hung upside-down. As soon as Kassidy laid her eyes on Holden she started to feel the same anger as she did yesterday as she crossed her arms and furrowed her brow at him. When Holden looked at Kassidy he furrowed his brow as well and crossed his arms.

"Brooks," Kassidy said.

"Kimler," Holden said.

As the two stared at each other in anger, Shade noticed Goth and Throbb looking at the two confused. He smiled the best smile he could put on his face. "We sometimes use our middle names when we're addressing each other." Shade then looked back at Kassidy and Holden and they didn't take their eyes off of each other. "So… is there anything you guys would like to say to each other? I'm sorry, apologizing, anything?"

Kassidy and Holden didn't look at anyone as they continued to stare at each other as if one of them could turn the other into stone. They didn't blink or flinch as everyone watched them to see what would happen.

Holden then smiled sarcastically at Kassidy. "Sure, I'm sorry you like to be cast alone and not socialize with others a lot like a normal being."

Kassidy realized what Holden was trying to do and if he wanted to play that game then she would gladly play it as well. She then smiled sarcastically as well. "I'm sorry that you're scared a lot and can't hunt properly as the rest of us can."

Shade and Marina were looking at Kassidy and Holden shocked.

"And I'm sorry you're not an expert at magic like Martin is and can't do it perfectly."

"And I'm sorry that you're a dumb screw up that can't do anything properly."

"Okay," Shade said before Kassidy and Holden could say anything further," I got a better idea. How about we go do some hunting and then we can continue on our way to the next point to try and catch up with the colony? Then maybe you guys can apologize when you're ready?" Shade was looking at them hopefully but Kassidy and Holden didn't look at him.

"Pft, half wit," Kassidy said.

"Lunatic," Holden said.

Kassidy and Holden then took off in different directions leaving the others still roosting on their tree branches.

* * *

This was not good. It really wasn't. It was really bad.

Shade had never seen Kassidy and Holden fight like that before. They did argue sometimes but never like this. They went at each other as he and Chinook would but this was much worse than his arguments with Chinook.

He was hunting in the same area with Marina while the others were hunting in different parts of the forest. He was trying to catch enough food for the journey but he couldn't take his mind off of the way Kassidy and Holden were arguing. He missed a few catches because of his thinking but he really didn't care. Marina didn't even tease him on the fact that he couldn't catch a few bugs today.

In fact, she didn't act like herself today. She looked really timid about something but Shade couldn't understand what it was that made her act like that. He tried to ask her what was going on with her but she didn't want to talk about it. He didn't ask her again because last time she snapped at him back on the island. He could still see the anger in Marina's eyes when he tried to talk to her about the band she had on her.

Marina was chasing after a beetle and Shade watched her as he was flying. Then to his surprise, Marina sighed and she landed on a tree branch and hung upside-down. Shade stopped in midair and he looked at Marina confused. She was rubbing her banded arm as she looked down at the ground.

"Marina, you don't want it?" Shade asked.

Marina didn't look at Shade as she continued to rub her banded arm. "No… I've lost my appetite. You can take it, Shade."

Shade looked at the beetle and it wasn't far ahead. He took his chance to fly after it and as he did he used his sound vision on it. Then using his wing, he guided the beetle to his mouth and he started to eat it. After he finished down the beetle he looked back towards Marina and she was still roosting on the same tree branch. Shade turned around and he flew towards her. When he got to where Marina was roosting he landed on the tree branch and hung upside-down near her.

Marina didn't bother to look at him as she continued to rub her banded arm. He couldn't tell what she was thinking about but he wondered if she was thinking about Kassidy and Holden. Or for that matter something else.

"Shade, Kassidy and Holden are really mad at each other," Marina said. "This has to be the first time they had an argument like that."

Shade then sighed. "I know… and I don't if they'll ever make up…"

Marina looked at Shade. "Do you think they always fought like that when they were humans?"

Now that Marina said it, Shade never really thought about that before. When he first met them they never told him what their relationship was. He always thought that they were friends. Could he be wrong though?

"I don't know… but I hope they'll make up soon. I mean they can't stay mad at each other for long can they?"

Marina's eyes then went down. "It all depends on the situation, Shade. Right now I think this might be a very bad situation."

They then heard a whoosh and flying past them chasing after a beetle was Holden. Shade saw that he looked really frustrated as he was chasing down the beetle. His teeth were bared and his fur was bristled as he kept pumping his wings at a fast and furious rate.

_Here we go again, _Shade thought.

Shade then looked back at Marina. "I'm going to go talk to Holden." Shade dropped from his roost and he flew after Holden. He was soon close enough to Holden but Holden didn't look at him as he kept chasing after the beetle. "Holden, are you really still mad at Kass?"

"And what if I am still mad at her?" Holden asked as he continued to chase the beetle. "It's not my fault she's being crabby to everyone."

Shade furrowed his brow at Holden. "You guys need to stop acting like this towards each other. For sun's sake, you guys are friends. We're all friends."

"You clearly don't get it, Smalls. Our relationship was not what you thought it was."

"What're you talking about?"

"Forget it, smalls."

"No, I want to know what you meant by-"

Holden looked at Shade with that frustrated look. "I said I don't want to talk about it, alright!?"

Holden then flew away to continue on with chasing the beetle leaving Shade stunned as he glided in midair. Holden had never yelled at him like that before. In fact, he never yelled at him before. Did he have to yell at Shade like that just because he wanted to know about his and Kassidy's relationship?

Then in a swift motion, Holden caught the beetle in his mouth. He then landed on a tree branch and ate his beetle and Shade didn't even think he was trying to taste his meal.

Shade then sighed and he flew to Holden and when he got near him he stayed airborne and furrowed his brow at him. "Look, I don't know what you guys used to be but I can't stress to you enough about how this is getting out of hand. Be mad at each other all you want but just remember this: we're all still in this together."

Without waiting for a response from Holden, Shade flew away from him. He couldn't deal with the fact that his first friends were angry with each other. If they wouldn't make up with each other then what would happen next? Would Shade lose them for good?

* * *

In a far off distance, beasts were gathered around and it was a meeting held by General Brutus. Many different types of beasts were gathered here: mice, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, all different types. Whether it was prey or predator they were still gathered by orders of General Brutus. Among the beasts, there was one type of beast that some of the prey were very skittish by.

Wolves.

Wolves were very vicious when it comes to hunting and a lot knew that. The wolves couldn't deny it. Even Quacey couldn't deny it.

Quacey was here with his cousin, Luger-who was the alpha-and he was also here with two of Luger's best wolves, Virtuoso and Kiba. Even though Quacey was here with these three he felt out of place because he was pretty different from these three. It may not seem as though he was but it was because he was trying not to show it.

If anyone saw him and Luger together you couldn't tell that they were related. Luger was a symphony blue color with yellow eyes and he always had a grin that Quacey never liked. Quacey, on the other hand, was a steel blue color with blue-gray eyes and he had only one ear. Quacey lost his ear by a coyote when he was just a pup and ever since he lost it he was always known as the one-eared freak and he was teased a lot because he only had one ear.

Even though he was quite different from his pack, Luger gave him the position of being a beta since he became the alpha of the pack. They weren't ever close but Quacey thought that the only reason why Luger gave him this position was that he was his only relative he knew of. Their parents and siblings were long gone and that was basically the only thing they had in common and nothing more. Luger was always the popular one getting all the attention while Quacey was always the outsider.

He was still an outsider.

"And the disappearance of two owls by a bat is the final straw," Brutus said loudly so that all the beasts would hear him. "The disappearance of them could only mean one thing. Death. I am closing the skies to _all _bats!"

The beasts started to talk to one another about what Brutus just said and Quacey never would've thought that any type of bat would do something like this. He looked to Luger, Virtuoso, and Kiba but they didn't seem to mind about what Brutus just said.

"All bats are fair game," Brutus continued, "until the treaty violators are brought to justice."

Quacey then saw one of the rats step forward and he was known as King Remus and he was here with his brother, King Romulus. They were both a purple color and Remus was sort of brighter in purple than his brother. Romulus was darker in purple. They really stood out though from all the other animals in the forests because they were wearing crowns that were made from their garbage home.

"It seems to me that you owls have been far too self-serving," Remus said to Brutus having no fear of him. "Life and death are a part of the natural cycle of things."

"This was an unnatural act!" The owls that were with Brutus started to hoot in agreement with him. "We must stick together." Brutus then leaned forward sternly. "Can I count on your support or not?"

The animals started to chitter and whisper among themselves not sure what to do right now and Quacey looked from one set of animals to another because he wasn't sure what to do at this moment. He didn't know whether to believe the General's words or not. He started to wonder how the General knew it was a bat that caused the disappearance of two owls.

He then heard a sigh and he looked over to see the white kermode bear herself, Ursa and a lot looked at her as well. She sat on her haunches with some weird type of food that Quacey couldn't figure out what it was. From the smell of it though he could catch a whiff of different types of food from nature, like fish. Everyone knows of Ursa being taken in by the humans and the humans gave her a strange tag on her ear and since then they've been bringing her, her own special stash of food. He couldn't even imagine what the food the humans brought to her tasted like.

Quacey may look like he only eats meat just because he's a wolf but he's mostly an omnivore rather than a carnivore. He took it from his mother and she always told him, "Sometimes you must eat something else rather than meat because the meat will not always come to you and sometimes it can't always fill you up." She also said to him, "Sometimes you must be the one to eat herbs that grow because at least there's more of it than flesh."

He never tried to talk to Ursa before and a lot barely do for that matter. Not that they were afraid of her it was the fact that she wasn't very sociable with others. She preferred to be on her own. Quacey could kind of relate to that.

"I don't wanna get involved in this," Ursa said and then she swallowed her whole hand full of food and began to eat it.

Looking at the way Ursa ate her food kind of made Quacey disgusted. He knew better though than to show disgust to other animals. Like his mother would always say, "It's better to show respect rather than rudeness."

Remus looked back to Brutus. "This isn't our fight," Remus said agreeing with Ursa and then an owl came up to Remus furrowing his brow at the King as he neared him but Remus didn't show any signs of fear. "What're you going to do, eat me because I don't agree?" He asked challenging the owl.

"What's in it for us?" Luger asked Brutus with the smile that Quacey didn't like.

Quacey knew his cousin well enough to know that he always wanted something no matter what the cost was. That always made Quacey sick to the stomach.

"Obeying the law," Brutus said to Luger. "That's in it for you."

Luger then looked at Virtuoso and Kiba. "Like that's ever persuaded us before." The three of them chuckled and the other beasts in the forest started to chatter again amongst themselves again.

Quacey furrowed his brow at Luger, Virtuoso, and Kiba. "You really think that's funny?"

Luger looked at Quacey still smiling. "It is the truth though, cuz."

"But really, that wasn't funny."

Luger growled at Quacey. "Don't make this any more difficult, Quacey."

"Silence!" The cousins stopped looking at each other and then back to Brutus and he slammed his talons against the bark of a stump he was standing on. Quacey could tell that Brutus was in no mood for this. "Either you're with _us_. Or you're with the _bats._"

Brutus looked at every beast to hear their answer and everyone looked at him quietly. Quacey could tell at this very moment that the beasts had no choice but to stick with them.

* * *

**A/N- Well this really wasn't how I wanted to end this chapter but this was all I could do. You may have noticed that I used the same dream for Kassidy again and I will be doing that again sometime soon, so please don't tell me that I wrote the same thing in Kassidy's dream because I already know. I really couldn't think of anything to name this chapter so I decided to go with Skyward because Kassidy sees the hawk in the sky. When it came to the wolves in this story I thought, "Why didn't they have a good wolf?" So that's when I came up with the character, Quacey so you'll be seeing him in the story. That includes the hawk as well, he'll be an important character later on in the story.**

**As far as this story goes, I was going to make this a two-story book but when I look at the story I have so far I have a lot of chapters and words in this. So I'm going to be making this story a trilogy. Plus it would make sense, considering the SilverWing story is a trilogy as well. I will also be making a few changes in this story, just to give you a heads up.** **Next chapter will be here soon and I will get it in as soon as I can.**


	25. Arguments and Disagreements

**Chapter 25**

**Arguments and Disagreements**

* * *

After some time of flying, they were roosting on tree branches. The winds were getting colder but it didn't stop them from roosting on these very tree branches. It wasn't like they were going to stay in their spots for the rest of the night anyways. However, Kassidy and Holden didn't want to stay long after what happened yesterday and today.

This time, Shade was the only one asking a lot of questions to their giant bat companions and Holden would usually ask a lot of questions as well to them but he was not in a good mood and neither was Kassidy. Shade and Marina were in between Kassidy and Holden and Kassidy and Holden had barely said a word or barely looked at anyone as they had scowls on their faces and had their arms crossed. Shade and Marina looked at Kassidy and Holden once in a while but they didn't try to ask them if they were alright or if they were ready to apologize.

Kassidy could tell that Shade and Marina felt awkward being in between her and Holden but at this moment she didn't want to be anywhere near that idiot. Their anger towards each other was like a bad relationship between a cat and a dog.

Once again, Dianna was sharpening her claws with a rock and sometimes Martin watched her when Shade didn't ask him a question. Martin sometimes also watched as Throbb was cleaning Goth's band like Throbb was Goth's servant. Kassidy could tell that Throbb was not enjoying himself and if he had a job as a shoe polisher for a human job, she could guarantee that he wouldn't enjoy it as well.

"These bands! They're hard to clean and twice as hard to keep shiny," Throbb said as he continued to polish Goth's band.

"You know what else is hard to clean and shine?" Holden said and everyone except for Kassidy looked at him. He then gestured his head towards Kassidy without looking at her. "Kassidy's attitude."

Kassidy's eyes widened but she then scowled again and didn't dare to try and look at Holden. "Coming out of dumb bat's mouth over there."

"Oh, hey, Shade. Would you mind telling that hot head that she should be a whole lot nicer to others instead of being a grouch as usual?"

Kassidy then cupped her hand near her ear. "Oh, hey, Marina. Do you hear that? It sounds like a fly buzzing around here. One of us should probably shut it up before it gets a whole lot more annoying than it already is."

Shade and Marina were looking at Kassidy and Holden with their eyes widened while the giant bats looked like they didn't know what to do in this situation.

"Guys, will you stop arguing for one day?" Shade asked. "Can't you guys just make up?"

"I'm not apologizing to that jerkwad until he apologizes," Kassidy said bitterly as she looked away.

"Well I'm not apologizing to that wicked witch until she apologizes," Holden said bitterly as he looked away. "Bitch."

"Bastard."

Silence came down on them for a little bit until Shade cleared his throat and tried to smile at the four giant bats. "So, why do you think the humans band bats anyway?"

Kassidy bared her teeth and she couldn't believe that Shade would ask that question to those four giant bats. She explained it to Shade and Marina so why did he have to ask them that question? It was like he didn't even pay attention to what Kassidy had to say. She felt betrayed by him. Marina looked disapproved by what Shade asked the giant bats as well.

_What's next? _ Kassidy thought. _Shade asks them to be our leaders?_

She felt like she was going to punch something. She tried to do her breathing technique and she thought she was just angry and that's why she felt like punching something. Her breathing technique, however, didn't seem like it was working. If only she could block out what she was hearing at this moment.

"To imprison us," Goth said angrily with a growl. "So they can steal the secret to night vision." He was then trying to rip the band off him with his hand and teeth.

Kassidy rolled her eyes at Goth's attempt to rip the band off. _You won't be getting that off anytime soon, Fancy Wings._

She so badly wanted to say out loud to Goth that the humans already know how night vision works and that the band he's wearing is used for a good purpose. However, she had no idea what would come of it if she said something like that out loud. She didn't even want to know how these four would react if they found out that she and Holden were humans.

She then saw Martin and Dianna whispering to each other. They had annoyed looks on their faces. Kassidy could only guess that they were talking about Goth behind his back.

"If anything, I think those humans should've taken Kassidy instead so they could see what the hell is wrong with her."

Everyone froze and stopped what they were doing.

Kassidy's eyes widened as she slowly looked at Holden. She couldn't believe what he said. It was like he was actually trying to expose her true self to those scientists right now. It was also like he was treating her like she was mental.

Kassidy's fur bristled and she snarled and she could feel fire forming inside her. "You want my opinion? Those humans should've taken you so they can remove your stupid brain because that's what you are! Stupid."

Holden furrowed his brow at Kassidy. "At least I know how to have fun! You on the other hand always can't seem to know what that is because you are always serious or worried about something!"

"And I should be because look at the situation we are all now in genius!" She burst into flames at that moment. "Plus my family is somewhere out there in danger-god knows where-and it's not easy to have fun when you know your family is kidnapped or the fact that you're treated like you're a monster!"

At this point, she no longer cared if she was on fire or not. Holden acted as though there was nothing to be worried about. Kassidy couldn't even believe she thought that he actually cared about her life. That was all a lie.

"Kass, no one's calling you a monster here," Shade said calmly.

Kassidy looked at Shade still furious. "I've been called a devil! I've also been called a demon! Now those animals are coming at me all thanks to your new cannibal heroes and they roost over there thinking it's all okay while we are in danger and so is the colony!"

Kassidy was glad that these four giant bats were here to hear this because she was letting it all out. The four giant bats were looking at each other unsure what to do at this moment.

"They did us a favor," Holden shouted at Kassidy. "The least you could be is grateful they saved us! We'd probably be dead if it weren't for them! You are such a pain in the neck at times!"

Kassidy took the time to breathe and as she did the flames died down. She then no longer looked mad but instead, she looked serious like she was a drill sergeant. "Oh, please I had to put up with your end these past few days."

Everyone's eyes widened at what Kassidy just said.

Holden blinked his eyes a few times and then he furrowed his brow again. "Say that again."

"Guys," Marina said nervously.

"Oh, you mean what I just said about you constantly spewing crap every time you speak?" Kassidy said, ignoring Marina. "Certainly." Kassidy then cleared her throat. "Uh I-" Kassidy then indicated to herself, "that's me, the bat that's roosting here-had to put up-" Kassidy then pointed her finger up, "that's a direction-" she then pointed at Holden, "with your end-I'm uh, heh, not even gonna go there-" Kassidy then used her hands to go up and down in a straight line like she was trying to slice a carrot, "these past few days-that is a period of time." Holden was baring his teeth at Kassidy and it actually made her glad to see Holden like this. "Was that slow enough for you?"

Shade and Marina were looking at each other still shocked while the giant bats still didn't look like they knew what to do in this situation. Holden could only continue to bare his teeth in anger at Kassidy and Kassidy knew that she really got to him.

"Why don't you come over here and say it to my face?" Holden said as he pointed at Kassidy.

Kassidy crossed her arms and she could tell that this was getting real. "I've got a better idea: why don't you come over here and make me say it to your face?"

"I will! I'm going to rip your smart ass mouth off!"

_You wish, _Kassidy thought. "You wanna go?"

"Yeah, I'll go!"

"Then let's go!"

"Yeah, let's go!"

Kassidy and Holden were about to fly at each other but Shade and Marina were quick enough to hold them back. It took Marina a lot of strength to hold Kassidy back because she was pretty strong and it was the same for Shade when he was holding back Holden.

"Guys, stop," Marina shouted as she was holding back Kassidy the best she could. "You're getting out of control!"

"She's right," Shade shouted as he was holding back Holden the best he could. "You need to stop!"

Kassidy and Holden wouldn't stop trying to go at each as Shade and Marina kept holding them back. It was like a school fight might happen and teachers were holding back Kassidy and Holden from fighting each other.

"She's making me look like a fool," Holden shouted.

"Well you're making me go over my limit," Kassidy shouted.

"Both of you cool down!" Not even realizing it water was coming down on both Kassidy and Holden and then the water splashed on them and they were now soaking in cold water. Kassidy and Holden coughed when they felt the water get in their nostrils and mouth from the unexpected impact. Kassidy moved away some of her wet hair from her face and she looked to Martin who splashed her and Holden with water. She saw that Martin had some anger in his eyes and this was the first time she's ever seen Martin look this angry or even shout at anyone. "I think that'll be quite enough from the both of you. You've had your argument now if you two won't get along then don't bother talking to each other. After all we still need to find the colony."

Hearing Martin say this could only make Kassidy feel guilty on the inside. How could she even act like this towards Holden and try to fight him? Yes, she was still mad at him but she couldn't believe she was about to fight him. She always told herself that she should never fight anyone unless it was for a good purpose. This here was not a good purpose.

Kassidy and Holden looked at each other and they glared. They then looked away and as they did, Holden tried to warm himself up from the cold water that splashed on him and his teeth were now clattering. Kassidy, on the other hand, didn't need to worry about the cold water on her as she did a heating spell on her hands and then she put them on her arms and she let the heating do the rest. She didn't bother to heat up Holden because she thought he didn't deserve it after the way he's treated her lately.

Martin was nice enough to get Holden warmed up with his heating spell when he roosted next to him and when he did, Martin placed his hands on Holden's shoulders so he could get warmed up. Holden sighed in relief at the warmth he was getting.

Kassidy saw Dianna get back to sharpening her claws and she also saw Goth and Throbb whisper to each other about something. This whole whispering thing these four giant bats have been doing has really been getting Kassidy annoyed lately. With all this whispering going on between these four giant bats she knew that they had to be hiding something.

Kassidy then noticed that Marina was looking at her band and she saw that Marina was thinking of something. Marina then looked at the giant bats. "Maybe the bands mean something good." Marina looked at Kassidy and Kassidy could tell that she was trying to make the giant bats think that the bands have a good purpose without trying to say that she knew what they were used for.

The four giant bats looked at Marina and Martin was just finishing heating up Holden as Kassidy was done heating herself up. Kassidy demolished the heat from her hands as Martin did the same thing and roosted back next to Dianna. The brothers could only stare at Marina in confusion while Martin and Dianna looked like they wanted to laugh at Marina's remark.

"Such as?" Dianna said as she continued to sharpen her claws while staring at Marina.

Marina looked at Dianna's claws but she looked back at Dianna and Kassidy could tell that she didn't want to look at Dianna's claws again. "I don't know… something special?"

Goth looked at his band. "Something special." He then looked back at Marina with a smile. "How amusing, señorita.

Kassidy's fur bristled and she bared her teeth at Goth. She thought that guy was about as much an ass as Martin was. She so badly wanted to fly over to Goth and smack that smile off his face.

Marina looked hurt by Goth's words but Kassidy could see that she was furious. "Humph!"

Marina spread opened her wings and she was about to take off, but Kassidy put her hand on Marina's shoulder to prevent her from flying off. Marina dropped her arms and she looked at Kassidy confused. Kassidy did not want Marina to fly away and let Goth get to her just like that. Marina was her friend and if there was one thing it was that Goth took his words too far and Kassidy wouldn't stand for it.

Kassidy slowly turned to look back at Goth with her brow furrowed as she had her other hand in a fist. "You feel good about yourself, you egotistical Prince? Marina's view on the bands is not amusing."

Goth had his arms crossed as she heard Holden sigh annoyed. "So you agree on Marina's view on the bands?" Goth said.

Kassidy put her hand down from Marina's shoulder as she kept staring at Goth in anger. "Just because you don't agree doesn't mean you should've been a clod about it to Marina." Kassidy then gestured to Marina. "Now I think you should start by apologizing to her."

Marina looked nervous as she tried to get Kassidy's attention. "Kass, it's okay, he doesn't have to."

Kassidy looked at Marina. "Marina, he made your statement sound like it was a joke and you and I both know that it wasn't."

"Here we go," Holden said with a roll of his eyes. "Here comes back the redhead that can't control her anger."

Kassidy glared at Holden. "And here sounds the loud mouth of a goat! You just keep talking and see what happens!"

"You might want to control that temper of yours, Kass," Kassidy turned to look at Martin and he had his brow furrowed at her as he had his arms crossed. "The more you keep doing that the more likely you're going to cause a whole lot more of problems."

Kassidy at this point couldn't stand Martin at all. She thought he always made things complicated and he and his companions were the reasons for all of this happening. She decided to give these four a piece of her mind.

"You know what, Martin?" Kassidy said, and then she said the one word that was bad. Very bad. The big one. The queen mother of dirty words towards Martin and Marina, Shade, and Holden gasped. The four giant bats had their eyes widened at what Kassidy said. "I admit, I have anger issues and I try to control it but ever since you four came along things have turned into hell lately. If you hadn't of came along things would've been fine. You wanna ruin a lot of bats' lives? Then congratulations, you did it. You have officially cost a lot of bats' lives thanks to your carelessness. And do you want to know what I think of you? Well, allow me to give you the full details."

Kassidy then looked at Throbb and she pointed at him. "You're a fat bozo that cares for nothing except for food." She then looked at Goth and she pointed at him. "You're always looking for a way to try and impress someone just for attention and that makes you a fraud in every single way." She then looked at both the brothers. "And if anyone had an award for the weirdest brothers-in-law on this planet, you two would obviously have won that, considering that this sort of thing barely happens."

The brothers' jaws were dropped as their eyes were still widened. Kassidy then looked at Dianna as she pointed her finger at her. "You constantly sharpen your nails. They ain't going anywhere for now but you know what? I could care a whole lot less because claws are just claws. I wouldn't be shocked though if you lose them one day if you keep sharpening them like they're your actual babies, you claw obsessive lady. Also, it's hard to take you seriously when you sharpen your claws because it's like hearing an animal dying and it's irritating like you are."

Dianna was frozen in place with shock and she didn't sharpen her nails after hearing what Kassidy said. Kassidy then looked at Martin while pointing her finger at him. "And you. I may not be perfect but at least I'm not you. I wouldn't even dream of it. Remember the time you apologized to me? Yeah, me neither, because you're as cold as a snake and not only that you are like a cloud. When you disappear it's a beautiful day. You know why? Because you are too complicated to deal with than anyone else in this group!"

Kassidy was breathing hard after she said her long sentences and everyone could only stare at her in silence with their eyes widened. Martin then breathed through his nose as he looked somewhat angry as he slowly closed his eyes. He then looked at his band and he breathed on it and after he did, he used his forearm to rub his band. After rubbing his band for a little bit he then looked at it and he then lifted his eyebrows for a sec and then lowered them. He then looked back at Kassidy calmly as he lowered his arm.

"So I guess this is coming out of someone who's been trying to spy on me lately?" Martin said.

Kassidy's anger washed away and it was replaced with surprise as her eyes widened as did Marina's. Kassidy didn't move an inch as Martin was staring at her directly in the eyes waiting for her answer. Holden and Shade were looking at Martin confused as were the brothers. Dianna, on the other hand, didn't look confused.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about," Kassidy said.

"Don't play dumb with me," Martin said. "I know you've been trying to spy on me and I know that Marina has been in on this as well."

Holden and Shade looked at Kassidy and Marina. "Guys, is that true?" Shade asked.

Kassidy couldn't breathe as she couldn't force herself to look away from Martin's stare. Her plan to spy on those four giant bats backfired. But how did he know? As Kassidy was trying to put this together that was when she realized something. Ever since Marina, Shade, Holden, and her came across the four giant bats she hadn't done the sight-seeing spell on her or the other three. The more she thought about it the more she realized the thing that really disturbed her.

Martin was watching her and Marina through their sight.

Kassidy had to place her hand on the crumbly bark of the tree to keep herself from falling but her eyes kept locking onto Martin's. She started to see something in Martin's eyes that could only make her saliva feel like it was burning the inside of her throat. She tried to keep her usual expression on her face but to her it felt like everyone could tell that something was wrong. How could she have forgotten to do the one thing that she should've done?

She was zoned out that she didn't hear Marina's voice until she shook her. "Kass, you alright?"

Kassidy didn't take her eyes off Martin but she knew she couldn't take another minute standing here when she knew that Martin now knew what she and Marina were trying to do. "I… I need some air…" Kassidy then immediately flew off her roost and flew away from the group.

"Kass, wait!"

* * *

Goth watched as Kassidy flew deep into the woods and Marina flew off her roost to catch up with her. He couldn't help but notice the way that Kassidy was looking at Martin. Her face looked pale and even though she was looking like her sarcastic self, Goth could tell that there was something going on inside her head as she was staring at Martin.

He then looked at Shade and Holden as did his other giant bat companions and when they did, the boys just smiled nervously at them with the shrug of their shoulders and then they took to the sky and followed the girls. When they were out of sight, Goth couldn't help but scowl. Never in his life had he ever felt so humiliated about something when Kassidy said the one true thing he couldn't deny about him and Throbb being brothers-in-law. Not only did she get him and Throbb good, but he could see she really got to Martin and Dianna.

He could tell that there was no way in hell that Kassidy was going to ever try and trust them. She was not impressed by either of them, she really hadn't been the nicest one recently, and she barely showed any nice emotions to them. Especially not towards him. He could not flat out understand her, why couldn't she be much more understandable like Shade and Holden were? Even though Goth was still angry at how Kassidy acted towards him and his other three companions he couldn't help but admire her brave words.

He then started to think about Kassidy saying her family was kidnapped. She really sounded like she cared deeply for them. He shouldn't care he really shouldn't but it made him wonder if it was the owls that took her family.

"That girl is starting to tick me off," Dianna said bitterly.

"Love, you and I both knew that she was going to be hard to convince," Martin said. "But as long as we don't lose her it'll all go as planned."

Goth growled under his breath and felt as though Martin was blowing their cover. He didn't even know Kassidy and Marina were doing some spying but somehow Martin knew they were. He was starting to lose some faith in Martin.

Goth looked at Martin. "You sound so sure that this plan of yours will work but it seems to me that the señoras are nowhere into believing us because of the way you're doing things around here."

Martin slowly looked at Goth with his eyes narrowed and Goth didn't even need to look at Throbb to know how he was feeling. Throbb was slowly backing away as he was hanging on the tree branch they were all on.

"You having doubts?" Martin asked coldly.

"What do you think, amigo?" Goth said. "You said that you and Dianna would make sure we would get to eat the colony but so far it seems like we might lose our chance of doing that because of what you're doing. If we don't eat the colony because of you I will-"

Before Goth could speak any further he then started to feel his throat tighten. His throat was really tightening and he could barely breathe. It felt like he was being strangled by hands but when he tried to grab at his throat some sort of force prevented him from grabbing it. Nothing was touching his throat but he could feel the strong force tightening around his neck.

He looked at Martin and Martin just hung upside down on his roost looking at Goth with his eyes still narrowed and his hand was out towards Goth like he was going to hit him but he just kept his hand out towards Goth. Goth then realized that Martin was actually strangling him-only with magic though. Sucking in air was difficult for Goth and all he could do was stare at Martin shocked.

Martin brought his face closer to Goth's as he continued to strangle him with his magic and as he did his shadow fell onto Goth. "You listen here, tropical Prince. I don't take any shit from anyone and if anyone tries to give me a hard time you know what I do to them? I start to squeeze the living life out of them like a snake." Martin hissed like a snake as he slowly started to close together his fingers and as he did, Goth could feel his throat tighten more and he desperately tried to get some air and he could hear Throbb gasp behind him. "Cross me again and I'll gladly call off the deal and end your life."

Martin then put down his hand and when he did, Goth could feel the tightening on his throat loosen and he breathed in the air and coughed rapidly as he held his throat. He could feel his throat getting sore, even when he swallowed some of his saliva it felt like swallowing a shard of bone.

"You'll get what you want, but not if we're going to have problems. You may be a Prince but I'm a wizard, you ain't in the jungle anymore; you're in the northern forest and as long as I'm around I'm in charge here and you better hope that nothing bad happens to me nor Dianna because if we die, _you_ die."

Goth didn't move as Martin released his grip from his roost and took off. Martin's words really sent shivers in his body.

"I'd suggest that you two watch your back," Dianna said. "Because you never know when someone might chew on it." She then flew off her roost and followed her mate.

Martin in charge. Goth kept rewinding everything Martin said to him piece by piece and from the sound of it he meant every word he said. He couldn't shake the fact that Martin was now proclaiming himself the leader in this group. What gave him any right to do so? Goth should've been the leader here but since Martin could easily kill him if he wanted to he couldn't do that.

Goth knew, however, that Martin was right. Without him, there was no way he and Throbb could survive out here. If they were to get back to the jungle they needed Martin and Dianna's help. He still thought it was the work of Zotz that these two were helping them, why else would they want to help them?

_Zotz helps those who help themselves, _Goth thought and that was the one thing that he would sometimes tell himself.

"Goth… are you-" before Throbb could ask his question to Goth, Goth held his hand up to stop him without looking at him.

"I don't want to hear it," Goth said and then he lowered his hand.

Goth couldn't stand it whenever anyone asked him if he was alright or not. If he even tried to answer yes or no he only thought it would prove him to be weak. Weak wasn't his middle name. He never liked to show weakness and he never intended on showing weakness to anyone. Ever.

"You think it was actually a good idea to make that deal with Martin?" Throbb asked. "I just… is it bad that he frightens me?"

"We won't have to worry about him or that crazy mate of his after we get what we want." Goth then looked at Throbb. "But I believe it's a sign from Zotz. He must've known of our capture and sent these two for our aid."

Throbb rubbed his neck. "It doesn't seem like it though."

Having enough to hear from Throbb, Goth grabbed Throbb's mane with his hand very hard and snarled. "You want to die out here in this hell hole?!"

Throbb's eyes widened and he shook his head nervously. "N-No…"

"Then sticking with Martin and Dianna is our only option."

"But what if we just ate the little bats and we could be done with it? Then we wouldn't have to worry about the deal."

"Eating only a couple of bats won't be enough for the journey back to the jungle, but eating a whole colony would." Goth then released his grip from Throbb's mane. "Our time of eating bat flesh will come soon enough."

They then heard flapping and they looked to see that there was a Brightwing. This made Throbb smirk. "Like now?"

Throbb was about to fly after the Brightwing, but Goth shoved his wing into Throbb and he growled at him. "It's mine," Goth said as he still growled.

Goth then swung upwards and opened his large wings and flew off his roost to hunt down the Brightwing. He may not have magic like Martin did but he still had his vicious, killer instinct inside him. Magic or not he was still a deadly hunter.

* * *

**A/N- Holy crap it's been that long but I managed to finally finish this chapter. I know it's been a long time since I last updated but I hope this chapter was worth my effort. Anyways next chapter will be out soon and have a nice day.**


	26. Broken Friendship

**Chapter 26**

**Broken Friendship**

* * *

"Kass, slow down!"

Kassidy kept flying and didn't look at Marina as she was trying to catch up to her. Her mind was focused on only the fact that Martin knew all along the plan she and Marina had. Not only that she worried that he now knew that she and Holden were humans. Did he actually know?

Marina was then flying next to Kassidy and Kassidy still didn't look at her. "For the love of Nocturna, you're fast." Kassidy ignored what Marina said. "Kass, can you look at me?"

Kassidy sighed and she used her eyes to look at Marina. "I need to be alone right now."

"Look, I know you're still angry and I know you're still shocked that Martin knew all along our plan and I am too. But maybe you shouldn't have gone all out with your words towards them."

Kassidy's brow was furrowed. "It's not my fault they only care about themselves. I just couldn't take it anymore; I can't even take more of Martin. That guy has been snooping in on us and that tells me that neither he nor the other three giant bats can be trusted. You know it's true."

Marina was about to say something but a voice intervened, "Guys!" Kassidy and Marina heard Shade and they looked behind them to see the boys and they were huffing and puffing as they were flying. They had their eyes narrowed at the girls. "You wanna explain to us what the heck that was all about?"

"And why should we?" Kassidy asked bitterly. "You wouldn't even understand."

Then in a blink of an eye, Shade flew airborne in front of the girls to stop them. Kassidy and Marina were surprised and Kassidy even thought that this might've been the fastest that Shade ever flown. Holden was airborne as well behind the girls.

"We need to talk," Shade said.

"There's nothing to-"

"Yes, there is!" Shade said loudly when he cut Kassidy's sentence off. Shade had never yelled at her before and this was the first time. "I wanna talk about this right now so let's roost!"

"Yeah, I wanna talk about this as well," Holden said, "because this is getting ridiculous."

Kassidy and Marina looked at each other and they both sighed. They both knew that they weren't going to get out of this. Even if they tried to keep telling the boys that they didn't want to talk about it they would still keep telling them that they wanted to talk about it.

The girls dove to the nearest tree branch and then they landed on it and hung upside-down. The boys then roosted next to them upside-down as they still had their brows furrowed. The four of them just kept staring at each other for a while.

"Was it true what Martin said?" Shade asked breaking the silence.

Kassidy started to rub her temples. She just wanted to be alone but it was clear that she wasn't going to get it at this moment. However, it would've been a good time to do the sight-seeing spell but if she even said she wanted to do it right now she knew that the boys would've declined. She thought about doing it but it was clear that this was much more important than her spell.

"Yeah, it's true," Kassidy said.

"Damn it, guys. Why didn't you tell us?"

"You see, this here, this is the reason why we didn't tell you two because we knew what your reactions would've been like. You two had your heads up in the clouds while Marina and I could already see that there is something suspicious about them."

Shade crossed his arms. "You know what I think? You're just jealous that Martin is more advanced at magic than you are."

Kassidy bared her teeth at Shade and she couldn't believe what he was saying right now. "You think this is about jealousy? I'm not jealous, I'm angry at Martin because that guy has crossed the line too many times."

"For Christ's sake, Kass," Holden said bitterly. "Why do you have to make things complicated? You're like the new version of the Queen of Hearts!"

Holden was next to Kassidy so it wasn't hard for Kassidy to put her face near his as they glared at each other. "Oh, is this coming out of someone who had to get his ass saved a lot like I don't know one, two, three, four times? That's pretty much you being a damsel in distress!"

"Well sorry, I'm not advanced at flying like you are! You think you're the only one that has to deal with people getting saved a lot? Get over yourself, we've all been there!"

"Oh, hey, you want these spit droplets back or are they for me to keep?" Kassidy said as she could feel Holden's spit on her.

"Sorry, I was trying to scare off that mosquito that was on you," Holden said sarcastically. "Oh, it was just blemish, never mind."

"I'm hoping its cancer. I'm dying for it to get out."

"Oh, if you die can I have all of your nothing?"

Kassidy could feel her hands turn into fists and the fire inside her was starting to form slowly as if it was dying to get out of her for good. If she were to transform into a wild beast because of her anger she'd probably be the dragon because fire and dragons pretty much mixed together, but some dragons could breathe out other things and not fire. Kassidy could picture herself of what she'd look like if she did transform into one but she did not want to focus on fire and dragons. All she could focus on was this here argument with Holden.

Shade and Marina could only stare at Kassidy and Holden with their eyes widened as the two went at each other. Once again they were caught in the middle of Kassidy and Holden's nasty arguments.

"What do you mean if I die?" Kassidy said in an icy tone. "I've been dead since the moment I had to be your tutor."

"Well then maybe you shouldn't have been my tutor in the first place!" Holden shouted.

Kassidy could not have agreed more with him. "You're right, maybe I shouldn't have been your tutor, 'cause then I wouldn't be in this situation with you!" The flames spread all over Kassidy's body.

"Wait, what're you guys talking about?" Shade asked confused.

Kassidy and Holden stopped glaring at each other and they looked at Shade and Marina and they were looking at them confused. The flames demolished on Kassidy as she had the palm of her hand on her forehead. She knew that Shade and Marina didn't know about the true relationship between her and Holden and she knew that it was now or never. She couldn't stand this anymore.

"You guys wanna know something?" Kassidy asked. "In our human forms we were never friends, far from it. The only reason why were together was because we had no choice. I had to help Holden with his things-which I never wanted to do-because he was failing miserably. If I never had to do that I would've been at home right now with my family. But no, I wasn't there for them because now they're kidnapped and I could've been there to save them but because I wasn't I had to help Holden with his crap."

Shade and Marina looked from Kassidy and Holden a few times with their eyes still widened. Kassidy wouldn't take back what she said because what she said was true. She wished she never took Principal Chester's offer of helping Holden. She wished she didn't go help Holden with his homework and studying at the coffee shop. She wished she could've kept her secret of being a witch from Holden. She wished the car crash never happened.

She wished she never met Holden Brooks.

"I… I don't know how to feel about this," Marina said.

"You don't have to feel anything for this," Kassidy said. "But you might want to feel something for what I'm about to tell you guys." She then took a deep breath and was prepared to break the news about the giant bats to the three of them. "Guys… Martin, Dianna, Goth, Throbb, and their kind-the Vampyrum Specrtums-they'll eat a lot of different types of meat. They'll even eat bats."

Marina looked shocked with what Kassidy said and she also had a look of fear in her eyes. However, to the girls' surprise, the boys started to laugh hysterically. Kassidy couldn't believe them. They were laughing about what she said.

"Okay, that's a good one," Holden said.

"Guys, it's not funny," Kassidy snapped. "It's true though, these bats will eat anything that's moving and living, including bats."

"Kass, you're just trying to scare us just so we can ditch our friends," Shade said.

Kassidy looked at Shade with her teeth bared. "They're not our friends, Shade. I think they're using us just so we can lead them to the colony just so they can eat every last one of them, including us. Where the hell were you and Holden when Martin said he knew Marina and I were doing some spying? He was pretty much spying on us as well. He had no right to do that."

"Like you guys had no right to spy as well?" Holden said. "Maybe he had a good reason to peep in on you and Marina because you guys just can't stand the fact that we're traveling with those four."

Marina scowled at Holden. "Oh, so Martin can peep in on us but we can't? Are you even hearing yourself? Why can't you and Shade come to realize that they can't be trusted? Why can't you take what Kassidy says seriously?"

"Why can't you and Kassidy be friends with them?" Shade snapped. "If any case, you two are tearing this group apart."

Kassidy and Marina were shocked by what Shade said. Hearing this from Shade only made Kassidy angrier. She was now equally mad at Holden and Shade. It wasn't her and Marina that was tearing this group apart. It was the giant bats that were.

Kassidy bared her teeth at Shade once again. "Well, if we're tearing this group apart then I don't see why we should be friends with you or Holden anymore."

"Exactly, you two have done nothing but yell at us and agree with what they say, they're not as nice as you think they are," Marina said bitterly. "I'm done being your friend, Shade and Holden."

Holden and Shade looked at each other but then they looked back at the girls with their eyes narrowed. "Fine by us," Shade said.

"Yeah, and the sooner this is over the sooner I won't have to worry about you two getting on my nerves a lot," Holden said.

Kassidy looked at Holden. "We get on your nerves?" Kassidy then crossed her arms. "How about the fact that you've been getting on everyone's nerves lately? Because you never know when to shut up when you know that what you're about to say is going to be stupid."

"At least I don't have to worry about spells and all that other witchcraft crap you have because then at least I wouldn't be judged by a lot."

Kassidy bared her teeth angrily once again. "At least I've had accomplishments. What have you ever done to accomplish something? I'll tell you what, nothing!" Kassidy then swung upwards and Marina did the same thing. "I'm starting to see why you would think your Dad and brother would be disappointed in you and I think you're right because you only care about partying as your Mom did."

Kassidy flew off back the way she came and Marina followed her. She didn't look back at either Holden nor Shade.

* * *

He was shocked with what Kassidy said but this angered him. He was furious that Kassidy even mentioned the woman that he used to look up to. Kassidy comparing him to his Mom made him want to yell in rage. That woman meant nothing to him anymore.

Holden never wanted to lay eyes on Kassidy Kimler ever again. He never wanted to talk to her again. It was the same for Marina.

"Come on, Holden," Shade said. "Let's go back."

Holden simply just sighed and nodded and they released their grips from their roost and flew back the way they came. He didn't want to fly in the same direction the girls were going but he knew that they were stuck with them one way or another until they could actually go their separate ways. He was at least glad he still had Shade and all four of his giant bat buddies.

As they were flying, Holden saw Goth and Throbb up ahead. He noticed that Goth was eating something but he couldn't tell what he was eating from a far distance and whatever it was that Goth was eating was obviously making Throbb hungry. He then saw Throbb getting Goth's attention and when he did, Goth snarled at Throbb as if he was trying to steal his food. Throbb was pointing towards the four of them and when he did Goth saw them and he stood up and used the back of his foot to push his meal into the bushes. Holden assumed that Goth didn't want them to see the gory scene that was happening.

Holden and Shade landed near Goth and Throbb but the girls landed a farther distance away from them and when they did, Goth was wiping the blood that was on his muzzle off of him. The brothers looked from the boys to the girls as they had smiles on their faces. "Hola, amigos," Goth said.

Holden and Shade were scowling at the girls and the girls were scowling at them back and neither one of them looked at Goth nor Throbb. They just kept staring.

Goth and Throbb's smiles no longer looked bright but instead, they looked like fake smiles. "Is everything alright?"

Marina looked at Kassidy. "Come on, Kass. Let's just go, it's not worth it."

Kassidy looked at Marina and she nodded. "Couldn't have agreed more."

The girls spread opened their wings and they lifted from the ground and started to fly away. Holden then decided to say one last thing to them. "Hey, guys, wait!" Kassidy and Marina stopped in their tracks and they looked at Holden with their brows furrowed. "You almost left without this." He then lifted his hand and he tried to flip them off.

It was hard to do that, considering he only had four fingers and not five and Shade, Goth, Throbb, and Marina were looking at him confused but Holden could clearly tell that Kassidy knew what he was trying to do and she bared her teeth at him. "Screw you, Holden!" Kassidy then landed on a tree branch and she lifted both of her hands towards Holden and she double flipped Holden off. Holden hated to admit it but he thought she did the flipping off better than he did. Kassidy then flew back up into the sky with Marina and then they flew off and disappeared out of sight.

Holden and Shade looked at the brothers and their smiles disappeared. All Holden could see was surprise and confusion. "Is there something going on, amigos?" Goth asked.

Shade had his arms crossed. "You could say that we're no longer friends with them."

"Oh… well, I'm sorry about that."

"Eh, they probably weren't even our friends to begin with," Holden said.

Shade looked around him confused. "Where's Martin and Dianna?"

"That I'm not sure," Goth said as he looked to the sky. "The last time we saw of them was where we were all roosting."

"You think we should look for them?" Holden asked.

"I wouldn't worry about them, Holden." Goth then looked directly at Holden. "I'm sure they'll be back soon, they're probably still hunting or doing some other things at the moment. They're smart enough to not be caught." Goth then looked at Shade. "Shade, I think it would be a great time for you to pull up your sound map again so we can see if we can narrow in on your colony."

Holden and Shade looked at each other but Holden tried to smile. "Might not be a bad idea."

Shade looked at Goth, as did Holden and when Holden looked at Goth and Throbb, he noticed something strange in their smiles. The way they looked at them somehow was making Holden unsettle. He didn't know what it was but there was just something about the way they looked at them that didn't seem right.

"Okay," Shade said. He then turned around and he placed a claw on his temple as he was concentrating on the sound map.

Goth wrapped his wings around himself like it was a cape and he looked back at Holden. "So amigo, might I ask what that whole thing was about that you and Kass were doing?"

Holden looked back at Goth. "Trust me, man. You don't want to know what that whole thing was about. Quite frankly, I don't think anyone would."

Shade eventually turned around to look at the three of them after the grunting and mumbles of pain that Holden was hearing from him. "There might be a way but I'm not sure if it'll work."

"Well, as long as we can find your colony I'm sure nothing will go wrong," Goth said.

Holden then noticed that Throbb was staring at something. He looked to where Throbb was looking but all he saw were the dense bushes. Holden furrowed his brow confused and he looked back at Throbb. "Hey, Throbb."

"Huh?" Throbb stopped looking at the bushes and he looked at Holden.

"What're you staring at?"

Throbb looked lost like he was a child looking for his Mother. He just stared at Holden dumbfounded like Holden told him a new word. "Uh… I was…" Throbb looked back at the bushes and then he looked back at Holden. "I was just admiring the leaves here on these bushes. They look… tasty."

Goth looked at Throbb weirded out. Holden kind of didn't blame Goth because Throbb always looked like he was hungry for meat. He didn't expect Throbb to say he thought the leaves looked tasty.

Holden looked at Shade and Shade just shrugged his shoulders. Holden then looked back at Throbb. "You going to try them then? It can't hurt to give it a little taste." Throbb looked at Goth as if to ask what he should do. Goth didn't show any signs of what Throbb should do. "Come on, Throbb. Who knows? You might like them."

Throbb looked back at the bushes and he was rubbing his neck. Holden could tell that Throbb didn't look comfortable with trying herbs.

"Throbb, if Holden here insists you try the leaves then try the leaves," Goth said with a smile but Holden could see it was an annoyed smile.

Throbb looked at Goth a little nervous but he then looked at Holden with an uncomfortable smile and he slowly advanced towards the bushes. When he got close enough to them he slowly grabbed a hand full of leaves. He looked at the three of them and Holden and Shade gave him their best smiles while Goth looked like he was getting fed up with him. Throbb then gulped and he closed his eyes and he opened his mouth and started to eat the leaves.

Holden then saw Throbb open his eyes and he thought his eyes were going to pop out of his sockets because Holden saw that Throbb looked like he wanted to throw up. But Throbb slowly began to chew and Holden could hear some disgust noises coming out of Throbb. Throbb managed to look at the three of them and gave them a weak smile. Eventually, Throbb managed to swallow down the leaves. Holden thought that it was really uncomfortable when he was watching Throbb eat the leaves.

Goth looked at Holden and Shade and he placed his hands on their shoulders and they started to walk. "I think you two should do some more hunting, just in case."

"But shouldn't we wait for-"

"I'll tell the others that you two were still hunting if they get back," Goth said, cutting off Shade. "You'll thank me for this, now go hunt."

Goth turned away from the boys and walked away. The boys looked at each other confused but they didn't say a word as they flew off the ground to do some hunting. Holden didn't know if it was him but to him it looked like Goth was trying to make them scram. Holden then remembered that Goth was still eating a dead animal.

Holden then thought it might've been a good time for him to try to catch some hard insects. He did need some practice with his hunting. Plus he wanted to prove to Kassidy that he could hunt like the others. He would show her that she was wrong about his hunting skills.

* * *

He watched as Shade and Holden flew off to do some hunting. Goth thought that it was too close of a call for them to figure out that they ate bats. Throbb was so close of giving away their cover and Goth would've strangled him if Shade and Holden found the dead bat in the bushes.

When the boys were gone from Goth's sight, he walked back over to the bushes to where he hid the Brightwing carcass. He got on his knees and pulled the body out of the bushes. The rib cages were shown clearly and its eyes were still opened. The odor coming from the bat could only satisfy Goth as he wanted to eat the rest of it.

Flies were starting to land on the carcass and Goth growled getting annoyed with the buzzing. He swatted away a few flies and the last thing he wanted was to have a mix of meat and flies to eat. Eventually, he managed to get rid of a few flies and only a couple remained.

Goth was about to eat the carcass but he stopped when he saw Throbb still standing there looking at his catch. He furrowed his brow at him. "Why are you still here?" Throbb looked at Goth and didn't say a word as he looked at him a little skittish. Goth rolled his eyes, got up, and walked over to Throbb so he could stand over him. "Do yourself a favor and go hunt if you're that desperate for food or I will make you eat more of the leaves on those bushes. Go!"

Throbb wasted no time and flew off from the ground as fast as he could with him clearly knowing that Goth was not kidding. He was always aggressive.

Satisfied that there was no one left to bother him, Goth lowered himself near the carcass and ripped shreds of flesh from it and continued to eat.

* * *

Another day had passed and they were still trying to find the towers of fire but there were no signs of it. The journey couldn't have been more angering to Shade, Holden, Kassidy, and Marina then it already was. Holden and Shade haven't spoken or even looked at Kassidy and Marina for a while now and Kassidy and Marina haven't done the same thing either with them. They were staying as far as they could away from each other and it was about as good enough as it could get for now.

Shade and Holden were hunting together in a different part of the forest and they did the best they could to get in as much food in their system as possible. Shade could tell that Holden was getting a little better in hunting but he still couldn't catch the harder ones just yet. Shade wished he wasn't about the size of a mouse because then he might've been able to help Holden more with hunting down some insects.

Before they went hunting, the group had agreed that they would meet each other as soon as possible so they could get to the towers of fire faster. It was especially good enough for Shade, Holden, Kassidy, and Marina.

Shade then thought of something that was kind of disturbing him yesterday. He noticed that while they migrating that Throbb was looking at him, Holden, Kassidy, and Marina in a very hungry way. Shade didn't know if it was his imagination or not but he didn't want Throbb to suspect something so he looked away. He then thought about what Kassidy said about the giant bats eating other bats and he thought that was just crazy. He didn't understand why giant bats like them would want to eat other bats. Something in the back of his head was giving him doubts, like it was trying to tell him to wake up and that Kassidy was right and he needed to escape right now.

Shade shook his head. _No, _he thought, _Kassidy's the liar, not the giant bats. _

However, the more he thought about it the more he began to not believe his own words. Kassidy was the smartest bat/human that Shade ever came across. Whatever she said it was basically true. He then began to wonder if what Kassidy said about the giant bats were true.

"Smalls, you okay?" Holden asked.

Shade snapped out of his thoughts and he looked at Holden with a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. You look like you woke up on the wrong side of the roost." Holden then smiled as he used his shoulder to nudge Shade. "Come on, you can tell me. After all, I ain't a stranger."

Shade's smile went down and he sighed. "Do you think Kassidy might be right?"

Holden's smile went down. "What? That Martin, Dianna, Goth, and Throbb might be bat murderers? Oh, boy, don't tell me you now suddenly agree with her."

"I haven't agreed with her, it's just… I don't know I think Kassidy's words just got in my head."

"Well, let's just hurry up and get more food so we can be done with it."

Shade nodded and they continued to hunt but Shade really couldn't concentrate on the hunting. All he could think about was Kassidy and Marina's words when he and Holden were arguing with them.

As they were flying, Shade felt Holden nudge him again and Shade looked to him and he saw that he was staring at something. "Shade, is that Throbb over there?"

Shade looked to where Holden was looking and Holden was right. Throbb was in the branches of an oak and he was hunched over, his back to them. He heard Throbb chewing and he could only guess that it was Throbb's catch he was eating. Shade was happy enough to have giant bats in their group but he had repugnance whenever he saw one of them eating raw flesh.

"Yeah, it's him," Shade said.

"We should probably leave him alone then," Holden said. "He probably doesn't like to be bothered when it comes to eating."

Shade was about to turn around with Holden but he then noticed something. He carefully landed on the ground behind a tree quietly without Throbb hearing but close enough to see what he thought he saw. He placed his hands on the tree and looked from behind it and he saw some sort of lifeless wing. He thought it was an owl wing but when he used his echo vision on it he was horrified to see that it was not an owl wing. He thought he was going to faint.

There were no feathers on that wing.

It was an orange color and it was leathery, with ridges of long fingers beneath the surface.

Throbb was eating a Brightwing bat that looked like Marina's wing.

Shade saw Holden land next to him behind the tree he was looking out from behind and Holden looked to where Shade was looking confused. "Shade, what're you-" Before Holden could finish, his eyes widened and he started to gasp. Before he could gasp any further, Shade immediately covered his mouth.

The boys looked back to Throbb and the lifeless wing petrified and Shade hoped that Throbb didn't hear Holden. But to his fear, he saw Throbb turn towards them and before he could see them, the boys got behind the tree and they dared not to breathe a single breath when they knew that their lives were in danger.

* * *

**A/N- Another chapter down and I am so glad. Not much to say but the next chapter might be out shortly so have a nice day.**


	27. Witchnapped

**Chapter 27**

**Witchnapped**

* * *

Holden never felt more scared than he already was. Here he was right now with Shade, hiding behind a tree from Throbb. Throbb and the other giant bats actually did eat bats. He felt like he was going to throw up again like he did a couple of days ago.

He then heard sniffing and he immediately knew that Throbb was sniffing the air and he looked at Shade with his eyes widened as he bared his teeth skittish. Shade put his finger to his lips and mouthed to him to stay quiet. The boys then didn't move and Holden could feel his heart racing like it was ready to explode any second now.

"Shade? Holden?" The boys looked at each other when they heard Throbb calling their names and they knew that they were screwed big time. "Is that you?" Immediately, the boys took off from the ground fast and they flapped their wings as fast as they could. "Hey!"

The boys stayed below the tree line and Holden could hear Throbb's wing beats. He didn't know if they could escape him but the more he thought about getting grabbed by him the more he could feel his face sweat. The boys' breathing was not out of breath but rather of being afraid. To Holden, it felt like he was in a video game trying to survive but this was no video game.

Through the tight weave of foliage, the boys flashed, flipping from side to side, almost over onto their backs sometimes, to avoid getting impaled on pointy twigs or dashing themselves against a trunk. Holden didn't want to look back because he didn't want to know if Throbb was catching up to them or not but he wasn't intending on finding out.

Holden could hear Throbb cursing and sending sound waves towards them through the leaves and branches, trying to get a fix on them. Holden then saw Shade pull his wings together and he flew headlong. Holden didn't know what to do but he copied off what Shade did. They did it silently, not grazing a single leaf, they banked tightly-Shade did a better job of doing that-and they darted back the way they came. Then, twice more they made quick changes in direction until they could no longer hear Throbb's crackling wingbeats.

"Holy crap," Holden said out of breath. "Kass was right… they do eat bats!"

"I can't believe we didn't listen to them," Shade said. "We need to find them and get out of here."

"Okay, but where could they be by now?"

"I don't know but hopefully we can find them before Throbb tells Martin, Dianna, and Goth what happened. I just hope that Brightwing wing we saw back there wasn't Marina's."

The boys flapped their wings around the forest hard and fast to find Kassidy and Marina. Holden felt like an idiot for not listening to them and he turned his back to them, especially Kassidy.

Eventually they saw a Brightwing roosting all by herself on a branch. The boys sighed in relief when they saw that it was Marina. Marina was still alive.

"Marina!" The boys shouted towards her.

Marina looked up at the boys and she scowled at them as they roosted next to her and she crossed her arms. "Well, if it isn't tweedle dee and tweedle dumb."

"Marina, listen-"

"Listen to what?" Marina said cutting off Shade. "Another one of those stories from your giant bat friends? Forget it and go bug someone else."

"That's not what this is about."

"Then what is it about then? How you feel glad that you chose them over Kass and I?"

"No," Holden shouted. "It's not that! We saw something disturbing."

Marina looked at the boys confused. "What?"

"Marina, we should've listened to you and Kass," Shade said. "We saw Throbb eating a bat and we thought it was you he was eating. Kass was right about them."

Marina looked petrified as her eyes widened and her jaw hung open. "Oh, my god…"

"Marina, I'm sorry. This was a huge mistake bringing Martin, Dianna, Goth, and Throbb with us."

"Damn it, I wish I listened to you guys," Holden said guiltily. "Then none of this would've happened. I'm so sorry."

Marina looked around her but there was no one in sight. She then looked back at the boys. "What happened when you guys saw Throbb eating… you know…"

"Throbb knew we were there," Shade said, "and he was trying to catch us but we lost him."

"But we don't know where he is," Holden said. Holden then looked around him confused. "Where's Kass at? Wasn't she with you?"

"I don't know where she is," Marina said. "But she did tell me she was going to go get some water."

Holden looked at Shade shocked. He didn't know where any of the giant bats were but he knew that they had to find Kassidy before something bad happens. The giant bats were pretty ruthless so he didn't know how Kassidy would handle it. She was pretty good at fighting and she knew some magic, but his main concern was how she would handle Martin. Martin was a big guy and he knew a lot of spells.

He knew they had to get to Kassidy and fast.

"We gotta find her," Holden said.

"Then we need to go," Shade said.

"Already behind you," Marina said.

Together, the three of them flew off their roost and made their way to try and find Kassidy before it was too late.

* * *

Kassidy drank from the lake and she let the water flow down her throat, soothing it. It was just what she needed when she felt her throat dry for a while. Plus it was a good way for her to get some alone time.

She then started to think about these last few days of migrating with these giant bats. It still sickened her that she had to travel with them. Getting rid of them would be a dream come true for her, but the problem was she couldn't because of Holden and Shade and they definitely would've gotten on her. She then thought about why she would think this after what they said to her. It's not like they could stop her. Kassidy then decided that she would have to get rid of the giant bats one way or another, even if it meant that Martin might have a way to help her and Holden to return to their human selves.

She then stopped drinking the water from the lake and she wiped the water from her mouth. She then tried to think of how she would get rid of them. If there was one thing for certain it was that Kassidy always tried to find a short cut to some situations and right now she needed that short cut.

As she was thinking she then heard someone land behind her and without hesitating she grabbed the hand she saw and she flipped the person over her back. She saw that it was Goth that she flipped over her back. Goth groaned in pain and before he could move, Kassidy got on top of him, she put her hand on his chest and she had her fist out in front of his face. Goth looked at Kassidy surprised.

"You," Kassidy said with a growl.

Goth had his hands up. "Easy, señorita. I don't want any trouble here."

"You're not going to get any trouble unless you were planning on having me for lunch."

"Okay, calm down. Just give me a chance to apologize."

"For what?"

Goth then immediately pushed Kassidy off of him and Kassidy hit the ground with a thud. Kassidy looked up and Goth was smiling down at her. "That for example."

Kassidy got up as she snarled. "You sneaky son of a-"

"Ah, ah, ah, you might want to watch your language there."

Kassidy mockingly smiled as she got closer to Goth. "Are you always this charming or am I just lucky?"

Kassidy then punched Goth to the throat and Goth choked shocked and he covered his throat. He coughed for a little bit as Kassidy had her arms crossed.

_Well, that was easy._

Goth looked at Kassidy as he continued to cover his throat. "Okay… that was much… sneakier."

"And this is what happens when you try to sneak up on me two times."

Goth put his hand down from his throat and he cleared his throat. "Clearly, but I wasn't trying to."

"I'm sure you weren't, Fancy Wings."

Goth crossed his arms. "Can I ask why you keep calling me Fancy Wings?"

"Well, for starters you're a Prince that has good food, good shelter and a nice place in the food chain where you're from. You have a lot of things that a lot don't usually get and your wings are very large with no markings, rips, dirt or anything like that. So that would pretty much make you Fancy Wings."

For a second there, Kassidy felt like she was talking like Sherlock Holmes. But she always had her way with her words when it came to a lot of situations, even when it came to writing on her laptop or a piece of paper.

Goth slowly nodded. "I see, but I was actually trying to find you to talk to you."

Kassidy blew a strand of hair off her face. "Is that right?"

"Yes, and like I said I wanted to apologize. I wanted to apologize for yesterday."

"About?"

"About what I said to Marina. It was very rude of me-even though I still thought it was…" Kassidy scowled at Goth and he cleared his throat again. "Anyways, that's why I wanted to find you."

"Well first of all what you said to her was damn wrong and you should've kept it to yourself. Secondly, I'm not the only one you should apologize to. You still owe Marina that apology. Also, if you think I'm going to apologize to you about what I said to you yesterday forget about it because I don't regret what I said to you and your companions."

Goth sighed. "I kind of figured that you would've said something like that. Quite frankly I don't blame you. I would've done the same thing."

Kassidy drummed her fingers on her arm as she stared at Goth. If Goth could apologize to her then why couldn't Martin? Kassidy thought that Goth at least had some manners, unlike Martin.

"Well… thanks anyways for the apology," Kassidy said. "Maybe if you keep this up I'll think about trusting you."

Goth smirked. "I think that's fair."

"You two having a nice chat?"

Kassidy and even Goth jumped when they heard Martin's voice. They looked at Martin and he and Dianna were looking at them. This was the last thing Kassidy needed: seeing Martins's face. Kassidy saw that Goth didn't look like he was in a good mood to see those two because his brow was furrowed at them.

"We were just finishing up," Goth said.

Kassidy was now scowling at Martin. "Yeah, what he said."

Martin slowly nodded. "Well, I suppose we should probably look for everyone and continue on with our journey." Martin then walked up to Kassidy as Goth got out of the way and Martin's shadow casted on her as she continued to scowl at him. "Wouldn't you agree?"

At the end of his sentence, Kassidy thought it sounded like a snake hiss. Kassidy thought he was creepy but even though she did she rolled her eyes but thought that maybe it was time to go find the others. "Sure."

All four of them were about to fly off the ground but all the sudden Throbb came bursting through the opening. He looked out of breath even when he landed. The four of them had their brows furrowed confused.

_What the hell? _Kassidy thought. _Did he fly a marathon or something?_

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Dianna asked.

Throbb saw Kassidy and his eyes widened. Kassidy didn't understand what his deal was but there was something going on with him to make him act like this.

Throbb looked at Goth, Martin, and Dianna. "Uh… can I talk to you three alone?"

Goth, Martin, and Dianna looked at each other still confused. Martin then smiled at Kassidy. "Excuse us. We have matters to deal with here."

Kassidy watched as Martin, Dianna, and Throbb walked far away but Goth stayed put and he looked at Kassidy. Kassidy stared at Goth as if to ask what was going on. Goth simply shrugged his shoulders and he made his way over to the other three. Kassidy watched as they were whispering and she saw that Throbb looked really nervous about something but she didn't know what. But then she noticed that Martin, Dianna, and Goth looked really angry and they were still whispering.

Kassidy growled, she had enough of this and couldn't take all this whispering anymore. She walked up to the four of them. "Okay, I've about had it with all of you!" The four of them stopped whispering and they looked back at Kassidy. "All this whispering has really been getting on my nerves lately, which tells me that there's something that you don't want me or the others to know about." The four giant bats looked at each other as Kassidy crossed her arms. "So tell me, what's going on?"

The giant bats were silent as they stared at Kassidy and Kassidy just kept looking at them in anger. She wouldn't leave until they told her what was going on.

"Well, it's…" Martin tried to say something but he couldn't and Kassidy kept waiting for his answer. Martin then sighed annoyed as he furrowed his brow. "You know what? Screw this shit."

Before Kassidy could do anything, Martin was quick enough to grab Kassidy's arm and put it behind her back. Kassidy then felt Martin push in on her arm and she could feel the pain flowing through her arm and she growled in pain. Kassidy was shocked by what was happening.

"You idiot," Kassidy heard Martin say as he pushed in on her arm more and Kassidy tried to hold it in but she had to yell out in pain. "If you hadn't of ate that bat this wouldn't be happening right now!"

Kassidy's eyes widened but she knew she was right all along. But then she snarled and with the back of her head she slammed it right in Martin's face and Martin yelled out in pain as his grip on her arm was now released. Then, she got the details down and she used her wind spell on Goth, Throbb, and Dianna and they flew in the air screaming until they hit the ground. Then Kassidy flew off the ground and hurried away from them. She heard Martin yelling in anger but she kept on flying.

She knew she couldn't lead them to the others so she flew in a random direction just so if they were trying to chase one of them she would be the first one they would chase after. She flew by branches and foliage at a fast speed and as she did she also flew in and near dangerous obstacles. Her heart raced but she kept going.

All the sudden she felt something slice a bit of her hair and she gasped but all the sudden she felt someone get on top of her and she screamed when she saw she was falling towards land. She then felt the impact when she crashed and she groaned in pain but she couldn't move. She tried to move her arms and legs but she couldn't move them, not even her upper body. She looked up but she saw no one and she was confused.

But then, Martin materialized before her as he had his hand near him and he was looking down at her with his brow still furrowed. Kassidy's eyes widened and she couldn't believe she didn't hear Martin coming. How did he not make any noise while he was chasing her?

Martin then smiled and it was very disturbing to Kassidy. "Lights out, orphan."

Then, Martin used his hand to move it down near Kassidy's eyes and Kassidy tried to stop him but all the sudden she felt drowsy. She tried to keep her eyes open but the force kept closing them. She was then asleep.

* * *

Goth, Throbb, and Dianna followed the trail in which Martin flew off to, to chase down Kassidy. Goth's throat was not only hurting worse from yesterday's incident and the punch Kassidy gave to it a while ago but now his back was hurting all thanks to a spell that Kassidy did. He wasn't weak, he was still strong and he knew that's how Zotz wanted him to be. He wanted to be angry at Kassidy for what she did but he couldn't help but be impressed again with her like he was in the city. She really did know how to put on a show.

They then caught sight of Martin and Goth saw him pinning down Kassidy. However, he saw that Kassidy didn't look like she was moving. When the three of them landed near Martin, Goth saw that Kassidy's eyes were closed.

"Did you kill her?" Goth asked.

Martin got up and he looked at Goth. "No, she's just asleep, but I will kill her soon."

"Well… at least we still have one of them," Throbb said.

Goth, Martin, and Dianna slowly turned to Throbb with their eyes narrowed and Throbb was smiling nervously. Goth stood over Throbb and Throbb's smile went down. "How could you have been as stupid as to let two mangy bats see you eat a bat?" Goth lifted his hand and wanted to strike Throbb. "Your brain is in your stomach!"

Throbb lowered himself in fear. "T-They can't be far," Throbb said before Goth could strike him. "If we split up we can-"

Martin then started to laugh and Goth and Throbb looked at him confused. "Gentlemen, gentlemen, unless your stomachs and brains have forgotten, the runt did give me the directions." Martin then put his hand out. "To the towers of fire." Martin whispered in a creepy voice and fire formed in his hand. He then looked at Goth. "And let's not forget that he gave you the directions as well."

Of course Goth knew the runt also gave him the directions and while he and Martin got the directions, Throbb and Dianna were flying farther back from the group. For Throbb he could get why because he was sniffing out for food and as for Dianna he didn't know but he didn't care.

The fire in Martin's hand then demolished and Dianna smiled. "A very nice demonstration, darling."

Martin chuckled. "Yes, but it's just too bad that the orphan couldn't be _awake _to see this."

Martin and Dianna then started to laugh. Goth sighed and couldn't wait until the deal was done and over with. Martin and Dianna then wiped away the tears of laughter.

"So what of the others?" Goth asked.

Martin looked at Goth. "I know they'll be trying to find the orphan so we'll meet them there. They'll be in for a nice get together with the colony when they arrive."

Goth looked at Kassidy's sleeping body. "Who's going to carry her then?"

Martin looked at Kassidy and then Goth could see an idea form in his snake eyes. He looked at Throbb and Throbb could only blink his eyes. Martin then pointed at him. "You, you're carrying the girl."

Throbb shook his head and he looked at Martin shocked. "Wh-Why do I have to carry her?"

Martin furrowed his brow and he stood over him when he got near him. "Because you're the reason why we're now exposed, because you're smaller than us, because you're weaker than us, and because if you don't I will pummel you so hard you will not see it coming. So it's either the girl-" Martin then had his fist up near Throbb's face, "or your face."

Throbb gulped and he looked at Dianna and Goth and they just scowled at him. Goth knew that Throbb had no choice whatsoever.

* * *

"Kass!"

Holden, Shade, and Marina have been searching for Kassidy for a long time now and they couldn't find her as they were calling out her name. Holden was beginning to worry about Kassidy. So many thoughts were in his head that he tried harder to find her.

"Guys, look," Marina flew towards something and the boys followed her.

Marina landed on a tree branch and the boys landed near her. Marina picked up something on a twig and all three of them looked at what Marina had in her hand. In Marina's hair was a lock of red hair. They looked at each other scared.

"You don't think…" Marina said.

"It's… Kassidy's," Shade said and he looked at Holden and Marina. "Guys… I think they have Kass…"

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Holden said. All the sudden Marina gasped and the boys looked at her worried. Holden could tell that Marina was thinking about something. "Marina, what's wrong?"

Marina looked back at the boys. "Guys, they know about the towers of fire!"

The boys gasped. Holden realized that not only was Kassidy in danger but the colony was as well.

* * *

**A/N- This is by far the quickest chapter I've accomplished in this story and I enjoyed writing this chapter because things are getting bat shit crazy. Next chapter will be out soon, later.**


	28. Operation Witch Rescue

**Chapter 28**

**Operation Witch Rescue**

* * *

Holden could not stop cussing in his head. He wished that he could've seen this coming and because he and Shade didn't, the giant bats now had Kassidy and they were now going to the next landmark just so they could eat the colony. He didn't know where they were by now but he hoped that they weren't doing anything to hurt Kassidy.

"W-We have to find the colony before Martin, Dianna, Goth, and Throbb do," Shade said. "We also need to save Kass before she and the colony get eaten and it's all my fault." Shade had his head down looking guilty. "I wish I would've listened to Kass, then she wouldn't of…" He then placed his palms on his forehead.

"It's not your fault, Smalls," Holden said, but he too felt guilty for not listening to Kassidy. "I feel stupid too for not listening to Kass, but we need to get to the towers of fire and save not only her but the colony as well."

"But we don't even know where the fire towers are," Marina said. She then looked at Shade. "Shade, try your sound map again."

Even though Shade looked stressed about this, he placed a claw on his temple and closed his eyes to concentrate on pulling up the sound map. He was scrunching his eyes as he was groaning in pain and as he did, Holden and Marina looked at each other. Holden was actually glad he didn't have to worry about pulling up a sound map.

Eventually, Shade gasped as he opened his eyes and he was breathing hard. Holden and Marina looked at him with hope. "Did you see anything new?" Marina asked. "W-Were there mountains? A river maybe?"

Shade furrowed his brow as Holden could see he was trying to think. "Uh… there were these other giant towers that led along the cutline."

Holden furrowed his brow confused. "Wait, what?"

Shade looked at Holden. "You know those places where your kind steals all those trees."

"I don't understand what you mean by that." Holden then grunted. "If Kass were here she would know what you're talking about."

Holden was not smart like Kassidy. He remembered when he was in the first grade he didn't win the spelling bee and ended up in the last place. He was in the last place because he couldn't spell cat and he ended up spelling k-a-t because he thought it was for the candy bar, Kit-Kat. It was very humiliating and he was the laughing stock at school, but everyone got over it soon enough.

"Guys, Kass needs us and we need to hurry before it's too late," Marina said. "I pray to Nocturna that she's alright."

Holden then felt anger. How could he have fallen for the giant bats' trick? How could he have been so blind? Since he became a bat he felt useless in this group, like he didn't belong. But if there was one thing for certain it was that he couldn't let Kassidy get hurt. She wasn't just his tutor he had to be stuck with, she was also his friend. Holden knew he wasn't a good friend towards Kassidy but he wanted to make it up to her once they found her. He would do everything he could to help her. He no longer wanted to be useless. He wanted to be a big of help with not only with Kass, but with Shade and Marina as well.

"If those monsters hurt Kass… I am never going to forgive myself," Holden said. "I was a complete jerk to her… and I took… their side…" Holden put his face in his hands.

Holden felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked to see it was Marina that placed her hand on his shoulder. "She'll forgive you, but not unless we stay here. Right now we need to hurry."

"Marina's right," Shade said. "We're her only hope and Kassidy would've done the same thing if we got kidnapped."

Holden knew Shade and Marina were right. _No one messes with my friends. _

He then slowly nodded. "Then let's go save our friend."

* * *

They were flying for some time now but there were no signs of towers of fire. Insects were buzzing about and leaves were falling all over the place. Some of the trees bared no leaves at all and this was no paradise to Goth like it was in the jungle.

Goth and the others were resting on the ground after all the flying they've been doing and they made sure that no one saw them. They were lost and Martin and Dianna were trying to figure out which way they needed to go in order to get to the towers of fire and it was amazing to Goth how they could read the stars very well but he couldn't. He was trying to read the stars but it was like trying to read those ancient symbols back at the pyramid.

Throbb was sniffing around the forest to find whatever he could chow down on and he and Goth were supposed to be watching Kassidy but so far Throbb was not doing a very good job at watching her. Kassidy's sleeping body was leaning against a tree and it didn't look like she was sleeping, rather it looked more like she was dead.

Goth growled in irritation and he clenched his hands into fists as he stared at the stars. "I cannot understand these northern stars! How can you two even read them? There is no order to their constellations! I am sick of them!"

Martin sighed annoyed and he and Dianna looked at Goth. "You will understand these stars soon enough, but for now your main priority is to watch the girl with Throbb."

Throbb slurped down the last of a mouse he caught and he then looked at Goth. "Sick of the stars? Try eating these scrawny mice!"

Dianna rolled her eyes and she crossed her arms. "Why not stop?" She hissed.

Throbb looked at Dianna. "Because you can't eat just one!" Throbb then eructed loudly and this made Goth rub his eyes with two fingers not only in frustration but in embarrassment as well. "Just right, it's impossible." He then grinned at Dianna.

However, Dianna stared at Throbb with her eyes narrowed and her teeth were bared and in a quick move she grabbed a fistful of Throbb's mane and Throbb's grin dropped instantly when Dianna brought her face close to his. "You wanna know something? I don't eat my way out of my problems when it comes to survival, you fat moron. And if you weren't Goth's brother-in-law I would've gladly had you for lunch so that way I wouldn't have to deal with your whining and complaining almost every five minutes!"

Martin got to Dianna and he gently turned her around and as he did, Throbb backed away nervously until he got next to Goth. This was the first time Goth's ever seen Dianna overreact over something. "Love, breathe," Martin said calmly. "Even though I would've loved to do the same thing to Throbb if he wasn't Goth's brother-in-law, we still have a colony to hunt down. Stay calm for tonight and it'll all be over soon enough." Martin then turned his head to look at Kassidy and he smiled those snake-like teeth. "It'll be quite enjoyable to watch Kassidy as she watches the colony die, wouldn't you agree, darling?"

Goth watched as Dianna breathed in and out and then she started to grin towards Kassidy. "Yes, I most certainly agree."

Martin then walked away and Dianna followed behind him and they went back to work on navigation. Goth could not believe how Martin could be so calm a lot and he managed to calm his wife down. Whatever Martin did to make himself like this it was pretty much working.

Throbb looked at Goth. "Maybe I'll just go get some more mice…"

Goth looked at Throbb. "Never mind the mice. Soon you will feast on Silverwings, mi amigo. That little showoff, Shade, told Martin and I about the colony's next stop." Goth then grinned slyly. "Fire towers."

"But… how will we find them?"

Then Martin started to laugh and Goth and Throbb looked at him confused. Martin looked at Throbb as he continued to laugh. "Oh, the answer to your question lies right beyond there." Martin then used his thumb to point right over his shoulder.

Goth and Throbb looked to where Martin was pointing to and Goth thought Martin was pointing at trees. _No, those aren't tress. _Goth saw that these silver constructions were the works of humans and there were lines running through each of them near the top. Goth grinned. _Zotz helps those who help themselves._

* * *

The search for Kassidy was proving to be more difficult than Holden thought it ever would. He thought the giant bats must've been far away and that's why neither he nor his friends could find her. He wished he had binoculars the size of him right now so he could see in a farther distance.

Holden was managing to keep up with Shade and Marina, even though all this flying has been making him want to rest. But he couldn't rest when Kassidy and the colony were in danger right now. Their lives were at stake and they were their only hope at this very moment to save them from death.

Holden used his echo vision everywhere he looked so he can be sure that they hadn't missed anything and Shade and Marina were doing the same thing. The wind blew almost knocking Holden off course but he focused real hard and kept his flight in place. Holden had improved a lot on his flight and all he needed to do was hunt like a pro. If this were a test he probably would've gotten a good grade at this moment.

Marina looked at Holden and Shade. "Anything?"

Holden shook his head. "Nothing."

Shade sighed and he then shook his head. "No… just the wilderness is all I can see." Shade then looked around him and he looked unsure about something. "Maybe I was wrong…"

Holden looked at Shade. "Let's not jump to conclusions yet, maybe we just can't see them."

"Huh?" Holden heard Marina say and he looked at her to see that she was looking at something down below them.

Holden looked at her confused. "What? Do you see something?"

"Yeah, over there."

Holden and Shade looked to where Marina was looking and right below them, Holden saw power lines. He then realized that the power lines were what Shade saw in his sound map. He then looked at Shade. "That's it, that has to be it."

"Duh, what else could it have been?" Marina asked. "Let's go."

As they were about to head straight for the power lines, Holden heard what sounded like a screech and he thought he was imaging things but from the sounds of it, it sounded like it was calling for help. He was not imagining it though.

Holden looked at his friends with his eyes widened. "Is it Kass?"

Marina pricked her ears forward while trying to process what she was hearing. She then looked back at the boys. "It's not Kass's but somebody's definitely in trouble. We should check it out."

"That sounded like a bird," Shade said and he then scowled. "Humph."

"Marina, Kassidy's life is much more important than a bird's right now," Holden said as he frowned.

Marina scowled at the boys. "He sounds like he's in trouble though, he might be hurt."

"That bird is not our problem to deal with."

"Humph." Marina then glided away from the boys.

The boys looked at Marina surprised. "H-Hey, hang on!" Shade shouted towards Marina and he glided after her.

Holden cursed to himself and he followed after Shade and Marina. They plunged deep into the woods and as they were flying, Holden heard whimpering and what sounded like struggling. He wanted to find Kassidy, not check out what the heck was going on at this very moment.

The three of them all the sudden came across a bird. Holden saw that it was stuck in a trap, not just any trap: a net. The bird was trying to get out of the net with everything it got but whatever the bird tried to do he couldn't get the net to open.

The three of them landed upside down on the rope part of the net and when they did, the bird turned around and when he saw them he was looking at them with fear. When Holden got a better look at the bird he saw that it was an owl. He had yellow eyes, light and dark feathers, a light brown mane, and red hair. The owl that Holden saw looked pretty scrawny but all he could do was stare at the owl angrily. He was staring at the owl angrily because his kind already caused them enough trouble and Holden was still pretty pissed at them after one of them gave him the scar on his back he will never get rid of.

"Help," the owl pleaded, "I'm stuck and I'm strangling. Please, I've never hurt a bat in all my life. I'm practically a vegetarian."

"Liar!" Holden and Shade shouted at the same time.

The owl gasped. "Ah-ha," Holden shouted. "See that? That's the look of someone that knows they're busted."

"Guys, grab the other end," Marina said. "If we leave him here he could die."

"So, who cares?" Shade said bitterly. "He's an owl."

"Have you forgotten that Kass needs us right now?" Holden shouted at Marina. "We're only wasting time if we stick around here to help this owl and if we keep sticking around here, Kass might be dead by then!"

The owl stopped struggling against the net and even though he was in trouble he was looking at them slightly confused. He also looked scared and Holden didn't care if he was or not. All he wanted to do was save Kassidy, not the owl.

Marina looked at the boys with a sour look and she crossed her arms as she sighed and shook her head disappointed. "Nice to see that Zephyr's lesson really had an impact on you two."

"Lesson?" Shade said as the owl looked at each one of them still a little freaked out.

"You know, never underestimate the power of a kind act, even towards one enemy. If Kass were here she would've said the same thing and would've wanted to help him as well. You know I'm right."

Holden stopped looking at Marina frustrated and he then lowered his eyes and his ears and he couldn't argue with Marina on that one. He definitely could see Kassidy wanting to help this owl. Even though Holden was still pissed at the owls he wanted to do this for Kassidy.

_For Kass, not the owl._

Holden looked at Shade and he could see that Shade was thinking the same thing as him. Holden then sighed and he looked back at Marina. "Alright, but just so you know I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing it for Kass."

"That goes double for me," Shade said with his arms crossed.

Marina sighed but she nodded. "That's good enough for now." She then looked at the net the owl was in. "Hey, this is the same kind of net that the humans used when they banded me."

Holden looked at the net. "Really?"

"Yeah, and all we need to do is spread it open."

"Alright, let's just get this over with."

The three of them flew off their roost and then they started to pull at the net. The three of them grunted as they flew and pulled. Holden couldn't believe he was doing this but he kept repeating in his head that it was for Kassidy. He thought things would've been a whole lot easier if they just had scissors or at least something sharp to cut this net open. Or better yet, Kassidy's magic.

The owl was sounding skittish. "You sure you know what you're-" the three of them couldn't pull anymore and their grips on the net were loosened and the owl shot right out of the net and into the sky, tumbling like a tumbleweed. "DOOOOOOIIIIIIING!" The owl then smashed into the foliage of a tree and then he fell onto a tree branch.

Holden bared his teeth shocked. "That's going to leave a mark."

The three of them flew to the owl and when they got to him they landed on the tree branch he was on and he looked unconscious. Shade snapped a twig off a branch above him and slowly and carefully he began to poke the owl in the chest. If Kassidy were here, Holden could already picture her not liking what Shade was doing. The owl began to move and he was blinking his eyes open.

"Is… he okay?" Marina asked.

"Well, he's not dead that's for sure," Holden said and that made Marina frown at him.

Shade kept poking the owl in the chest with a stick and as he did the owl was murmuring as he opened his eyes and as he did, Holden noticed that things seemed pretty darker. The owl then gasped at something and Holden got confused but he then heard something above him and his eyes widened and his ears dropped. He looked up and his jaw dropped.

Staring at him and his friends were owls.

Holden then nervously smiled and he started to laugh nervously. "Uh… owl's it going, guys?" The owls kept staring at them seriously and Holden's nervous smile went down. "You're not finding this amusing are you?" One of the owls screeched loudly making Holden flinch. "I'm gonna take that as a no…"

* * *

**A/N- Hey guys, I know it doesn't look like much but I promise that there will be more in the next chapter. Well, that's all I wanted to say and the next chapter will be out soon, later.**


	29. Not According to Plan

**Chapter 29**

**Not According to Plan**

* * *

_Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!_

Holden wished he didn't help that owl and now he, Shade, and Marina were being surrounded by owls. They were trapped. The worst part was that General Brutus was among them, standing on a tree stump that looked like a chair. He thought that this never would've happened if they kept to their original plan to get to the towers of fire and save Kassidy. He blamed the scrawny owl for this.

He could feel his face dripping with sweat when Brutus's yellow eyes laid on him and his friends. Brutus looked much angrier than he did back at the clock tower and he looked like he was ready to rip their heads off. All Brutus did though was stare at them icily.

Brutus then brought his head down closer to them. "You again, lawbreakers?" Holden gulped and he did his best not to wipe the sweat off of him for he didn't want anyone to suspect that he was getting really nervous. "I see you two also brought your friend." The three then looked at each other. "You don't quit, do you?" Brutus shouted.

"We didn't do anything," Shade shouted at Brutus and then he pointed to the scrawny owl that was standing near the stump Brutus was on. "W-We were trying to help this runty owl!"

"That runty owl is my son, Orestes."

Without thinking, Holden made a low whistle and he looked back at Shade and Marina. "Wow, did not see that one coming," he whispered. He looked at the owl named Orestes and Holden could not see any similarities between him and Brutus. He then saw a spider hanging near Orestes's face and when Orestes saw the spider he yelped. Holden snorted and couldn't believe how ridiculous he was. However, he noticed Brutus was glaring at him and he then lowered his head. "Sorry…"

"We stopped to help him," Marina said. "He was caught in a trap-"

"Enough, Brightwing!" Brutus shouted as he flared his wings out dangerously. "You'll soon regret you ever joined up with these… these… pintsized, owl killing, barbarians!"

Holden's eyes widened but Shade bared his teeth and furrowed his brow at Brutus. "A barbarian?" He then pointed at Brutus. "You burned down Tree Haven! And we're not killing owls! Martin, Dianna, Goth, and Throbb are! They're giant bats from the jungle down south that kidnapped our friend!"

"Oh, yes," Brutus scoffed, "the giant meat-eating bats, and now there's four of them."

"Technically they're cannibals…" Holden said nervously and he could feel his hands shaking. "But not only that, the giant bat named Martin has magic like our friend does."

Brutus looked at Holden. "So now they're cannibals and one of them now has magic like that devil does."

"If we were owl killers would we have saved your son?" Marina asked as she gestured to Orestes.

Orestes looked at Brutus. "Father, they did save me…"

Brutus looked at Orestes. "Quit defending them, boy!"

Orestes furrowed his brow at his Father as he lifted his wings up frustrated. "You never listen to me!"

Holden couldn't believe this guy, they saved his son but yet he doesn't give a crap about that. He thought Brutus was very deaf. However, he knew what it was like for a Father to never listen. He and his Dad never had a close relationship and they barely had anything in common. His brother, however, managed to be a lot like their Dad. His Dad wanted him to be in different sports for school but Holden wanted to dance. Lewis didn't say no to their Dad's suggestion and now he played varsity in basketball and baseball in high school around his junior year.

Holden and his Dad would constantly argue about a lot of things and everyday, Holden would try to tell his Dad that he wanted to live his own life but his Dad would never listen. Holden understood that his Dad was still angry with him because he never tried out for sports like his little brother did. He did like to watch sports but he never wanted to play one. All he wanted to do was dance.

Brutus looked away from Orestes not caring what he said and he glared at the three friends. "You say that witch was kidnapped but I don't believe she was. She must've done some sort of spell on my son to make him think what he's thinking right now. I know she's hiding somewhere and I know you know she's hiding somewhere as well. Now tell me where that demon is!"

At this point, Holden no longer felt fear and instead, he felt anger towards Brutus. He clenched his hands into fists and he growled at him. "Our friend is not a demon!" Everyone looked at Holden surprised. "Her name is Kassidy and she's a good person! If you want to blame anyone you can blame those giant bats! You should also be grateful that we even came to your son's rescue because if we hadn't he would've been a goner! Our friend's in danger right now and she could be killed by those giant bats! I didn't think it would come down to this but you should know something."

Holden took a breather and then he continued. "Kassidy and I are not actually bats; we're humans."

Brutus blinked a few times and no one said a word. Holden couldn't believe he actually managed to speak up to Brutus like that. He felt like he should give himself a pat on the shoulder.

But then, Brutus burst out laughing and the owls around them started to laugh along with him, all except for Orestes. Holden didn't feel embarrassed but he felt his anger rising as he growled more. If he had magic, flames would've spread all over his body at this moment. He really hated Brutus at this point.

After Brutus and the other owls stopped laughing, Brutus then looked back at Holden. "So now you have the guts to try and be brave towards me, but I think you have finally lost it, lawbreaker."

"It's true! The only reason why Kassidy and I are bats is because she accidentally used her necklace to transform us into what we are! All we wanted to do was find help so we could go home! We're from Canada! We've had a whole load of crap happening to the four of us and now our biggest problem is that those four giant bats have Kassidy! You don't even care about her and it's all because of what she has on her and it's because she's a witch!"

"Enough!" Brutus boomed and Holden's eyes widened when Brutus flew over to him and landed near him. Brutus towered over Holden and he brought his face closer to his. "One more out of you and I'll retrace that scar on your back." Holden didn't say another word and he didn't even breathe. Seeing that Holden wasn't going to speak any further, Brutus then turned away from him and looked at an owl that had a black moustache on him. "Lock them up! And I want the best soldiers to track down that witch, immediately!"

"Yes, sir," the owl with the mustache said.

"I know they won't reveal where the colony or the witch is, so Orestes and I will need time to think of the most excruciating painful way to loosen their tongues."

The three friends were shocked and before they could do anything, three owls grabbed them and dragged them away to their prison cell.

* * *

He kept banging his head on the wall of their prison cell in anger. He didn't care he was now getting a headache from all the headbanging on the wall. Holden didn't know what to do at this point. Shade and Marina kept watching Holden bang his head against the wall and at any moment he could give himself brain damage.

"If we hadn't saved that owl this never would've happened," Shade said angrily.

"We did the right thing," Marina said. "If we ignored Orestes he'd be dead! And we'd all feel terrible!"

Holden snarled and he looked at Marina with anger fuming in him. "Oh, _we'd _all feel terrible for an owl that happens to be the son of that General?! You know this is all your fault!"

Marina looked at Holden surprised but then she bared her teeth at him with her brow furrowed. "My fault?!"

"Yeah, if you hadn't of made us help Origami we would've been able to help Kassidy in time! But no! You just had to pick that owl over Kassidy!"

"His name's Orestes and it was the right thing to do! I want to save Kassidy as much as you do but this was the right thing to do! Kassidy would've been glad we helped him!"

"But because we did she could already be dead by now!" Holden looked towards the cell door and he walked towards it.

"Holden, what're you doing?" Shade asked.

"These owls and their god damn cells!" Holden then kicked at the cell door at a very hard force but when he did he yelped in pain when he felt one of his toes get stubbed. He hopped on one foot as he rubbed his toe and grunted in pain.

"Hey, quiet it down in there!" the three of them flinched at the sound of the owl guarding their cell.

Holden cursed as he placed his foot on the ground and kept rubbing his stubbed toe. He couldn't believe he stubbed his toe on their cell door.

Shade and Marina looked at Holden worried as he kept rubbing his stubbed toe. Right now he was acting like an actual rough prisoner that he sees a lot on television. If he were human his Dad would've killed him if he ever gotten arrested for doing something reckless. The good news was that he never got arrested in his human form but the bad news was that he was now in a cell in his bat form.

Holden sighed as he stopped rubbing his toe and he looked back at Marina. "I'm sorry… I'm just worried about Kass…"

Marina sighed and she placed her hand on his shoulder. "We all are and right now we can't argue. We have to work together to try and get out of this mess."

"But how can we get out of here?"

"I'm sure we can come up with something," Shade said. "How hard could it be?"

* * *

The frequency of electricity sounding from the power lines was like music to Martin's ears. The power lines would lead them to the towers of fire and when it did he would take what was rightfully his. The orphan.

Martin was roosting with his wife on a tree branch away from Goth and Throbb and they had their own branch talking to each other as they were watching the orphan. They were taking a break from all the flying but Martin felt like he could keep going. He couldn't wait until his time came to kill the orphan and the rest of her family. He couldn't decide how he wanted to kill them because there many ways for anyone to die and there were too many good ones.

He was also glad that the deal with Goth and Throbb would be done and over with soon. Like Dianna, he couldn't stand those two and the sooner the deal would be completed the sooner he and Dianna could kill them. He was even planning on cutting off their heads so he could hang them on his wall. That thought made him chuckle.

Martin reached his hand out towards the power lines and when he did, he commanded his electricity spell to bring some of the electricity from the power lines to him and it was too easy for him and some of the electricity wavered towards Martin's fingers like he was part of an electric circuit. The electricity felt good as he felt it flow in his veins and some of it was even on him. Martin couldn't help but grin as he looked at his hands that still had the electricity being visible. He then demolished the electricity off of him.

He then looked at Dianna still grinning. "Can you feel it, love? Can you feel our goals being completed tonight?"

Dianna's claws sung in the air and they sliced a fly in half and Martin could tell that it was really bugging her. He was glad that he married a killer woman. She was very deadly like him.

Dianna then grinned at Martin. "Without a doubt, darling."

Martin looked at the still sleeping girl and her back was against a tree as she was sitting on its branch near where Goth and Throbb were roosting. He tightened his hand on the branch he was crouching on and he could feel pieces of bark spread on his hand as the branch was now creaking. Looking at her and thinking about her family, he could feel his blood boiling. Her family did him wrong and ever since that exact day he vowed to kill every last one of the Kimlers.

* * *

_Oh, my god, this is so hard to come up with a plan!_

Holden was getting frustrated because he, Shade, and Marina couldn't come up with a way to get out of their prison as they were sitting on the ground. To Holden, it felt like a very hard exam he had to take.

As the three of them were trying to think, they then heard talking outside their cell. Holden thought he recognized one of their voices. The three friends then saw the owl guarding their cell fly away. Holden furrowed his brow confused.

"Psst, you three," The three friends then saw Orestes near their cell and he was looking towards them. "You wanna get out of here?"

Holden narrowed his eyes at Orestes and he didn't trust him. He thought Orestes was playing some sort of trick on them.

"Uh, no thanks," Shade said and even though Holden wanted out he didn't want him to set them free.

"What?!" Marina exclaimed.

Holden looked at Marina. "Don't you get it? The minute he lets us out, he cries out for help, we get torn to shreds, and he gets a medal!"

Marina was looking at Holden furiously but the three of them noticed that Orestes was about to leave. "Wait!" Marina then stood up from where she was sitting. "Why would you let us go? Your Father would kill you."

Holden was about to say something but he decided it was not worth it because they all agreed not to argue. Even though he had the strongest urge to say it he kept his mouth shut.

Orestes had his eyes narrowed. "My Father wouldn't care if I was dead anyway. All he cares about is that stupid war." He then sighed.

Holden was surprised by what Orestes said. At that moment he didn't know what to say. He put his face in his hands and didn't know what to do.

"You got that right," Shade said and Holden looked up to see Shade already near the cell door looking at Orestes and Shade was looking at Orestes very angry. "The guy's out of control! He's a maniac, he's a warmongering lunatic, he's a..." Shade trailed off when he noticed Orestes looking away from them ashamed. "Uh… oh, sorry…"

Holden sighed and he couldn't believe he was about to do this. He got up and got near the cell door with Shade and Marina. "Hey, man, I know we got off on a bad start but I know how it feels to live with a Dad that is very strict. I'm pretty much punished every day because of a lot of stupid actions I've done in the past." Orestes looked at Holden curiously. "I remember when it was Halloween around my sophomore year and my friends and I were planning on throwing toilet paper rolls on one of my teacher's houses because he always gave us a hard time in gym class. It was by far the most hilarious thing in my life and my friends and I couldn't stop laughing, however, we all ended up getting in trouble. My Dad even grounded my ass for a long time and my friends and I had to clean up the toilet paper mess we made on our gym teacher's property and not only that, our gym teacher really pushed my friends and I whenever our next class was with him."

Even though this might've been a bad time, he started to laugh when he remembered toilet papering Mr. Gull's house. His house looked more like a mummy than it did a house. Holden wanted to stop laughing because he wanted to be serious but he couldn't bring himself to stop laughing. To his surprise, Orestes started to chuckle a little.

"I don't think I would've had it me to do something like that if I was you," Orestes said. He then looked closely at Holden. "Are you and that friend of yours-Kassidy-actually humans?" Holden nodded and Orestes's eyes widened. "Wow, I have questions."

"You can ask me questions, on one condition." Orestes looked at Holden confused. "You said you could let us out of here, so…"

"Oh, yeah," Orestes looked around him nervously but he then used his talon to lift a latch to the cell door and then the three friends flew out of their prison immediately in relief.

The three of them looked back at Orestes. "Thanks," Marina said.

"Guys, I don't wanna rush things but we need to still find Kass," Holden said.

"Then let's get out of here, now," Shade said.

Marina looked at Shade. "And go where?"

"To the fire towers."

"But we don't know where they are. We don't even know where we are."

Shade sighed as if knowing Marina was right while Holden cursed and he growled to himself as he rubbed his eyes with two fingers. "Great, that's just great," Holden said. "Next thing you're gonna tell us is that we're doomed."

"Hey, I know where that is," Orestes said as he had his wing up as if he was raising it to answer a teacher's question.

The three of them looked at Orestes surprised. "You do?" Shade asked.

"Yeah, if by that you mean the power electrical relay station constructed by his kind," Orestes pointed at Holden and the three of them looked at Orestes confused, especially Holden as he was looking at him dumbfounded.

"Uh… I guess that's it."

"I… don't know what that is but if you ever met Kass, she would know exactly what you're talking about," Holden said. "Can you tell us how to get there? We need to get there fast."

"Well if you want fast then it'd be quicker if I took you there," Orestes then lifted his wings up. "Come on." He then flew off the branch they were all on.

The three of them looked at each other very glad and then they unfurled their wings and took off to follow Orestes. Holden could not have been more grateful than he was for Orestes. He thought that he might not be so bad after all.

* * *

They were following behind Martin and Dianna as they were following the human constructions to where they needed to go. The sound from these constructions was like a pattern and it repeated over and over non-stop. Goth couldn't imagine why the humans needed something like this.

Throbb was carrying Kassidy as she was still under Martin's sleep spell and her head was hung forward as the wind blew her bloody red hair in her face. She was still and didn't flinch, even when Throbb grabbed her when they had to leave once again. If she were awake when Throbb tried to grab her, Goth could predict a lot of things that could've happened. Throbb was not enjoying his job as the bat carrier but neither of the three didn't care.

"Are we there yet?" Throbb whined and Goth literally could hear Dianna growl. "Can any of you see the towers of fire? I am so tired from all this flying and carrying her around! Can one of you carry her this time?"

"This is your punishment, Throbb," Martin said as he looked over his shoulder at him annoyed. "And if we were there would we still be flying?"

"The cold… I am sure it is slowing my wings and I am so hungry. I could eat a moth!" Throbb then started to rethink his words. "Maybe… two moths."

Dianna looked at Throbb with her brow furrowed but she was then breathing through her nose and Goth could tell she was trying not to yell at Throbb. She looked like she wanted to say something but she growled more and turned her head away and started to mumble under breath about Throbb and called him some awful names.

Throbb then looked at Kassidy and he had a hungry look in his eyes as he was staring at Kassidy. He was licking his lips but Goth growled at Throbb to prevent him from doing anything stupid and he knew that if Throbb tried to eat Kassidy, Martin would've called off the deal. He looked at Martin and to his relief, he wasn't looking at them and instead was speaking to Dianna in silence.

"Goth, I'm hungry," Throbb whispered. "I want to eat bats."

Goth looked back at Throbb. "Martin wants her and if you even ate her he would've called off the deal and not help us. You do want to get back to the jungle don't you?" He whispered.

Throbb looked at Kassidy and started to think and then he looked back at Goth and nodded. "More than anything."

"Then don't eat her." Goth then looked away and then smirked to himself. "Soon enough, we will be dining at the Silverwing buffet."

"Buffet? As in… dining without limits?" Throbb then started to chuckle. "Excelente." Goth then heard Throbb lick his lips. "Better than one bat."

In a matter of moments, the four Vampyrum bats came to a place of the fire towers. It looked dangerous but it was surrounded by high tech that not one kind of any other animal could build, except for the humans. How can a human build something like this? It was like a god built this construction instead of the humans. What was this place even used for?

Martin and Dianna landed on top of a small looking human building and Goth and Throbb landed behind them, but before Throbb could do that, he dropped Kassidy on the roof and then he and Goth started to crawl and sniff around for any living Silverwing they could sink their fangs into. As they were sniffing around, Goth noticed that Martin and Dianna weren't helping them. Goth had his eyes narrowed at them and he was about to shout at them to help them but before he could open his mouth he remembered how Martin strangled him yesterday and he did not want to go through that again. However, he couldn't pick up a scent of any bat, which meant that they weren't here.

Martin was breathing in the air and as he did, Martin then exhaled with a delightful grin that crept across his face. He and Dianna were staring at the place before them with grins upon their faces like it was actually their home. Martin then crossed his arms. "So much electricity, but it can never be destroyed. It's always around us."

Making sure that Goth was correct-and mostly because he didn't want to hear Martin's talking about electricity-he tore off a piece of the roof and looked inside. Sure enough, there were no Silverwings to be seen. Throbb was about to do the same thing but Goth stopped him. "Not so fast." He then looked to the sky. "It looks like dinner has not yet arrived." Goth looked down from the sky and noticed that Martin and Dianna were not on the roof with them. He looked around him confused but he couldn't see the two of them. "Where have those two gone?"

Martin and Dianna had their ways of disappearing a lot without making any noise and Goth wasn't sure how to feel about it. Throbb was looking around him confused as well and before he could even say a word, thunderstruck and it started to rain. Goth and Throbb's eyes widened as they could feel their bodies getting wet and some of the raindrops didn't even feel or look like rain. Goth growled annoyed and he then covered himself and so did Throbb and they started to shake in this dreadful, cold rain. Leaves were blowing their way and the weather was getting worse. The wind was blowing very hard as the rain continued to pour heavily that it almost knocked Kassidy off the roof but Goth was quick enough to grab her before she even fell off. He pulled her back up and plopped her back onto the roof.

"I can be hungry or cold," Goth said. "Not both. I don't know where Martin and Dianna are but we need to roost now." Goth looked at the hole he made in the roof and he started to make his way in it as he folded his wings across his body. He then eventually slipped inside and landed on a beam. He then looked up at Throbb. "Drop the witch, I'll catch her."

Throbb groaned but he nodded. He then came back seconds later with Kassidy in his hands and her wings were wrapped against her body. He then slid Kassidy through the hole and when he did he then released her and just in time, Goth caught Kassidy in his arms. He looked at her and her head and bloody red hair was hanging over Goth's arm. Looking at her, she looked very peaceful in her sleep and Goth could feel her warm breath on him. She was very light as he was holding her like she was made of air. Even when she was asleep she still looked beautiful.

Goth looked away from Kassidy and when he did he came face to face with snake eyes and he jumped, but Goth furrowed his brow when he saw that it was just Martin and roosting beside him was Dianna and she was looking at her claws. Goth thought Kassidy did make a point when she said that Dianna had an obsession over her claws.

Goth was then confused about something. "How'd you get in here?"

"Oh, we just went through that," Martin pointed towards something and Goth looked to where Martin was pointing to and there was a wide-open hole and the hole had something attached to it.

Goth closed his eyes frustrated and he had his teeth bared as he wasn't looking at Martin and Dianna. He so badly wanted to yell at them for not telling him and Throbb about that hole. He then tried to calm down and when he did he looked up towards the hole he made on the roof. "Throbb, use the other-" before Goth could finish, Throbb tried to slip in through the hole Goth made on the roof but when he tried to he instantly got stuck. Goth narrowed his eyes at Throbb. "Entrance."

Throbb was struggling to get out of his stuck situation. Goth slowly looked at Martin and Dianna a little embarrassed and as he did, Martin was looking at Throbb not impressed while Dianna sarcastically smiled at Goth. "So… brother-in-law."

All Goth wanted to do at this moment was to make Throbb disappear so he wouldn't be any more embarrassed than he already was. It was that embarrassing.

Martin sighed annoyed. "I got this."

Martin lifted his hand up towards Throbb and then he flicked his wrist down and when he did, Throbb yelped when Martin's magic pulled him down towards the ground. He crashed to the ground and he then groaned. He slowly looked up at Martin and tried to smile. "Gracias…" He then passed out.

Martin rolled his eyes and he then looked at Kassidy in Goth's arms. "I'll take her." Martin then scooped Kassidy out of Goth's arms and he then placed her on the beam they were all on.

Martin looked around him and he hummed to himself as he had his side of his finger on his mouth, thinking. He then slowly started to smile. He lifted his hand out towards Kassidy and when he did she was then floating. Goth watched as Martin used his magic on Kassidy and he guided her towards the ground and when he did he then placed her against what Goth saw was one of those wooden creations humans used to eat their food at. What Kassidy's back was leaning against looked like a skinny tree but it wasn't.

Goth then saw Martin use his magic on something else and he saw something skinny that was floating and it looked like a vine but it wasn't green and it wrapped around Kassidy and what her back was leaning against tightly. Martin then flew off the beam he was on and he landed near Kassidy and as he did he then lifted his hand up near the vine-like object and when he did it started to glow. The glowing then stopped as soon as Martin put his hand down. He then looked at something and he lifted his hand up towards it and when he did a circular object that was gray dropped near Martin and when it did, Goth could hear a very annoying sound coming from it as Martin was ripping something off it. Martin ripped off a small piece from the circular object and when he did he then placed it over Kassidy's mouth. Martin then grinned darkly at Kassidy as she was still asleep.

"Even though the Silverwings are not here yet and neither are her friends," Martin said, "we can wait." He then bent his knees down near Kassidy. "I think it's time for the Sleeping Beauty to wake up." He lifted his hand up towards Kassidy's eyes and began to wake her up as he darkly chuckled.

* * *

**A/N- Well that takes chapter 29. So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and I had to make a lot of changes to the story so I recommend that you look through to see what I changed. I was planning on doing parts in this but I realized that if I even did that I might have to make a lot of changes so I got rid of them. You're probably getting annoyed with the changes I made and I deeply apologize, I just don't like to see errors in my stories. I know I said I wanted to make this a quadrilogy but now I'm sticking to making this into a trilogy because my chapters are going to be long anyway. Next chapter will be out soon and have a nice day, later.**


	30. The Unexpected Savior

**Chapter 30**

**The Unexpected Savior**

* * *

Her eyes were fluttering open but she felt like she had the worst sleep of her life. Her hair and fur felt wet and she was extremely cold. The cold was seeping through her body like it was trying to freeze her blood in place from flowing in her body. What she needed was warmth.

But as she opened her eyes she saw that she was no longer in a forest. Instead, she saw that she was in a room. There were tools and equipment all over the room but as she looked around her she saw that it was entirely one room in a small looking house. From the looks of it, however, she could see that it wasn't a small house, it was a shed.

Kassidy was confused about what was happening but then she remembered trying to get away from the giant bats just so she could save Holden, Shade, and Marina and then she remembered Martin catching her. After that, there was only darkness. She was worried about Holden, Shade, and Marina and she wanted to find them.

She then started to feel something tight around her body and it felt like it was constricting her and she felt like she was getting blisters. When she tried to move she couldn't. She looked down and saw that she was tied against a table leg with rope. Her eyes widened and she tried to speak to herself and when she tried to her mouth wouldn't open and all that came out was muffling. She used her tongue to see what was going on and then her tongue hit something sticky. She realized that her mouth was sealed shut.

Kassidy tried to get out roughly as she made only noise from her sealed mouth. As she was trying to get out she then heard a chuckle that made her freeze in place. From the chuckle, she could recognize that voice. The one voice she hoped she wouldn't hear from.

"Awake at last," Kassidy slowly looked up and standing in the shadows with his creepy grin on his face was Martin and her eyes widened more. "Did you think it was all a nasty dream?"

She then heard groaning and she looked to see Throbb sitting up and rubbing his head. She then saw Goth and Dianna and they were standing off to the side, staring at her. She then started to think of Holden, Shade, and Marina but she saw that they weren't here, which to her guess was that they didn't catch them.

She tried even harder to get out and as she did so she heard Martin chuckle again as he approached her. His shadow fell on her and he crossed his arms as he stared down at her with those snake eyes. "Try all you want, orphan, you won't be getting out of that. I magic proofed it."

When Martin said magic proof she wanted to strangle him. That spell was used on anything that anyone with magic can't use on. At this moment she couldn't use her magic to free herself and this made her turn her hands into fists as she angrily stared at Martin.

Martin's smile went down as he furrowed his brow at Kassidy. "You might be wondering why you haven't been killed yet and I will gladly enough explain. You have been the most difficult to deal with ever since we accompanied you and your friends. I don't tolerate shit like that, especially when it comes to teenagers." Martin then bent his knees and he was now face to face with Kassidy as she continued to stare at him angrily. "I would've gladly have killed you at this moment, but that wouldn't have satisfied me yet."

Martin then roughly cupped Kassidy's chin in his hand and he pressed his fingers on her cheeks very hard. "So many things I could do to you at this moment." Martin then grinned. "I could slice your throat, I could break your neck." He then started to chuckle again. "So many options I could do to kill a sad, little orphan like you."

Kassidy roughly ripped her chin away from Martin's hold and she didn't want this guy to get to her. Martin shrugged his shoulders not caring. "But since I won't be killing you at this moment I have a special treat for you. Tonight will be the best show of your life and you'll have the best spot to watch it." Kassidy's eyes widened not liking where this was going. "Your friends and the colony will be here soon and when they arrive they'll be the main course for this very night. You'll be watching every last one of them die and in the end, it'll all be your fault because you couldn't save their hides from us. I want you to die with grief, I want you to suffer more just like your friends and that weak colony will."

Martin started to laugh hysterically and Kassidy couldn't believe what he just said but all she could feel was anger towards that rotten snake. Kassidy tried to jump at Martin but even though she couldn't she didn't care. She tried to curse at Martin with all the cuss words she knew but all that came out was random noises. This only made Martin laugh more as he watched her.

"I'd love to stay and chat with your more, but if you'll now excuse me, we have some planning to do," Martin said and he sounded like a snake as he said it.

As he walked away to join his companions, Kassidy continued to try and cuss at not only Martin, but Dianna, Goth, and Throbb as well.

"Martin… it's freezing," Throbb said as he shivered and covered himself in his wings.

Martin sighed annoyed and without even looking, he swished his hand in the air and the door Kassidy saw that was opened when she was done trying to cuss at the four Vampyrum bats instantly slammed. Martin then slowly looked at Throbb with his brow furrowed and he looked like he was going to murder him. Throbb backed away a little with his ears lowered on his head. Martin then sighed and he motioned to his companions with his hand to follow him. They all went to a far off distance in the cabin so Kassidy wouldn't hear them and Martin then started to form his plan with them.

Kassidy tried to listen in on their conversation but they were talking very quietly. She cursed in her head as she stared at them in hatred. Especially Martin.

Once again she tried to free herself without magic but the rope around her was too tight. She kept trying though and she didn't want to give up. She couldn't let those four eat her friends or her colony, she just couldn't. She had to stop them one way or another.

As she was trying to free herself she felt a little wind blow near her face. She was confused because she saw that there were no openings to the outside and the door was closed, so how was it that she could feel the wind? She turned her head to where the wind came from and standing right before her made her surprised.

It was a bird.

However, it was not just a bird; it was the red-tailed hawk that she saw yesterday.

He was drenched from the rain that Kassidy saw from the open door and even though he was he didn't seem to mind. He was only directly staring at her. Kassidy couldn't believe that she didn't hear him get in here and she also couldn't believe that Martin and the other three giant bats didn't hear or notice him get in here.

_Are you hurt?_ Kassidy blinked in confusion. She thought she was imagining things but she swore that this hawk was talking to her. The only thing was that he didn't move his beak. Did he actually talk? _Yes, I talked, but not through my beak, but rather through my mind. I'm sure you might have heard of something like this._

Of course, Kassidy had, she was practically more of a bookworm than anyone else she knew. She has heard of people talking with only their minds but she never could've imagined a hawk doing something like this. It was rare for anyone to do this and seeing that this hawk could do it just blew her mind away.

_Yes, _Kassidy replied to the hawk with her mind. _I have heard of it. _

_Are you hurt? _The hawk asked once again.

_No, I'm not hurt. Who are you and how did you get in here without them noticing you?_

The hawk stepped closer to Kassidy. _My name is Lightning, Kassidy. _Kassidy's eyes widened. How did that hawk named Lightning know her name? _I don't have much time to explain but you need to listen to me. I'm going to set you free and when I do I need you to stay put so I can distract those four. When I give the signal you need to get out of here._

Before Kassidy could even reply to Lightning, he walked behind the table leg she was tied up against and when he did he began to tug on it with his beak. As he was tugging on it, Kassidy could feel the rope loosen around her. There were advantages to magic proofing things but there were also some disadvantages.

_Hold this, _Lightning said, and he put the ends of the rope in Kassidy's hands and when he did, Kassidy held onto them very tightly.

Lightning then got in front of Kassidy and when he did he looked at the giant bats and they were still discussing their plan. Lightning looked back at Kassidy and he nodded. He lifted his strong wings and then he took off into the air and when he did he made a hoarse-screech and extended his talons out as he flew right at the giant bats. The four giant bats looked up confused and before any of them could see what was going on, Lightning grabbed Dianna's hair and he pulled at it furiously and Dianna screamed shocked.

Dianna was trying to get Lightning to let go of her hair as she was screaming but Lightning kept making some clever moves on Dianna as he kept pulling at her hair and making more hoarse-screeches. "Get it off me! Get it off me!"

Martin, Goth, and Throbb had their eyes widened, but Martin then furrowed his brow and growled at Lightning. He quickly got close enough to Lightning and Dianna. "Dianna, hold still!"

Martin tried to grab Lightning but Lightning kept making more clever flight moves as he kept pulling at Dianna's hair. Kassidy's eyes widened when she saw that Martin was going to use his magic on Lightning. He tried to use some spells on the hawk and no matter what he did, Lightning managed to dodge his magic as he kept pulling at Dianna's hair and that caused Martin's magic to destroy some things in the shed instead. Kassidy was by far very impressed with Lightning.

Goth and Throbb just simply stood by watching the scene not sure what to do but they were finding this extremely shocking. Literally.

Then, Lightning used his talons to push on Dianna's back and when he did, Dianna yelped and she crashed into Martin and he yelped as well as they hit the floor. They were groaning, but Martin then looked up at Lightning furiously and he got up, lifted his powerful-looking wings and took off from the ground to chase down Lightning. Martin chased Lightning around the shed and to Kassidy it was like watching one of those hilarious cartoon shows. As Martin was chasing Lightning around he sometimes tried to use spells on Lightning but Lightning easily dodged them, causing them to instead destroy some more things around the inside of the shed and sometimes Martin even cussed at Lightning.

Dianna looked up at Lightning and snarled and she then took off to chase down Lightning as well. She tried to drive her long claws into Lightning as she charged at him at a very fast speed, but Lightning maneuvered out of the way and Dianna's claws then sunk deep into the wooden wall and they were now stuck. Dianna cursed and tried to get her claws out of the wall and as she did, Martin continued to chase Lightning around the shed.

"Amigo?" Goth said as he was still watching the scene with his brother-in-law. "You need any help?"

"You wanna help!?" Martin said in rage as he continued to chase lightning. "Watch the orphan!"

Lightning looked in Kassidy's direction as he continued to try and distract Martin. _Now's your chance, go!_

Kassidy looked at the giant bats and just looking at them now she knew she couldn't just leave, knowing that these bats will likely still try to hunt down not only her but her friends and the colony as well. She couldn't let this happen. She had to stop them from trying to take away more lives than they already had. She knew she was taking a big risk here but this was not for her, it was for the ones she cared for deeply in her heart more than anything.

_I can't, they'll only try to find me anyways if I try to escape. I have to find a way to stop them before they try to kill my friends and the colony. I have to stay here and stop them from plotting their night hunt._

Kassidy expected Lightning to protest but to her surprise, Lightning didn't look disappointed, mad, or anything like that. Instead, he just looked at her calmly. _I understand, good luck, Kassidy._

With one more clever move, Lightning maneuvered out of Martin's bite attempt on him and then he used his body to push Martin to the wall and when he did, Martin hit the wall hard and then he plummeted to the floor with a hard thud. Lightning flew towards the ceiling and up in the ceiling, Kassidy saw that there was a hole there and in a quick motion, Lightning pressed his wings against his body and he slipped through it like he had oil on him.

Martin scraped his claws on the floor, making scratch marks as he snarled towards the hole in which Lightning flew out of. He then turned his head towards Throbb. "Throbb, get him!"

Throbb flinched at Martin's shout towards him, but without wasting any time he did as Martin wanted him to do and he took off towards the hole Lightning flew out of, but unfortunately he did not slip through it as Lightning did. With his potbelly in the way, he was stuck in the hole like he was a piece of chewed gum stuck on the ceiling. Throbb grunted as he tried to get through the hole.

Martin clenched his hands into fists as he continued to snarl and then in his hand, Kassidy saw that he formed an energy blast in it. He threw it near the hole Throbb was stuck in and when he did Throbb yelped. Martin did it a couple more times near the hole until it was big enough for Throbb to fit through. Throbb was then flying in the night sky trying to chase down Lightning.

Dianna ripped her claws out of the wooden wall, not breaking one of them but instead left four punctured holes in the wall like it was swiss cheese. She shook her hand in the air while growling and she muttered and cursed under her breath at the hawk.

Martin's fingers cracked as he turned them into fists and he was growling. But he was then breathing though his nose through which Kassidy could see that he was trying to calm down. Kassidy, Goth, and Dianna watched as Martin had his eyes closed as he was trying to calm down from what just happened.

"That bird must've accidentally stumbled in here," Martin said as he had his back with the snake on it to everyone. "I don't know how that bird did what he did but for now he won't be a problem anymore once Throbb gets rid of him." He then looked over his shoulder at Kassidy very slowly as he had his brow furrowed. He was looking at the ropes closely from where he was standing and Kassidy hoped that he didn't see a slight difference in how the rope was now around her. He hummed to himself and then shrugged. "It's just too bad he wasn't your hero for the day."

_I beg to differ, _Kassidy thought.

She hoped that Lightning would be okay but her main objection was to figure out how she could get rid of Martin and his companions. She knew she had to think of something fast before it was too late but she also knew that she had to be smart about this. The question was what could she do to get rid of them?

* * *

Trying to catch a bird in the very cold and dreadful rain made Throbb shiver violently. He didn't mind the rain back up south but here in the north, it felt like he was being punished. He could hardly see in the rain as it was pouring very badly, dropping onto his eyes and the wind was blowing in his ears harshly and it really irritated him, to say the least as he was chasing down the bird Martin wanted him to catch.

This task was not easy for Throbb, and the bird that was flying up ahead of him was much faster and skillful in his flying than he was. The bird looked like he was always careful when an obstacle looked or seemed like it was coming ahead and Throbb sometimes didn't even notice it, even when he tried to use his echo vision and because of that he almost hit the object. He was also breathing very hard as his wings and arms were aching and he so badly wanted to rest but how could he when Martin ordered him to kill that bird? Besides, he didn't even know what Martin would do to him if he didn't catch the bird but he didn't even want to think about it. Considering he saw Martin strangle his brother-in-law with his magic and no one had even the guts to do such thing to Goth-except for Goth's Father and Throbb knew as hell that the King was very abusive-but with Martin being the one with magic he could practically do whatever he wanted to do.

As Throbb kept flapping his wings as fast as he could, the bird looked at Throbb, made a hoarse-screech and as fast as lightning he charged at Throbb and using his talons he grabbed him and flew him hardly down to the ground and then in a split second, Throbb was pinned to the muddy ground by the hawk. Throbb tried to move but the bird was easily overpowering him. Throbb felt exhausted but he managed to look up at the bird to see that he had no desire in his eyes to kill him. Instead, he was looking at him calmly.

_Do not trust them, they may look like they're a part of your kind but they're not at all what they seem they are._

Throbb blinked and then the bird was gone. Nothing was pinning him now and he looked around him in utter confusion. There was still no sign of that bird to be seen. "Huh?"

He didn't know what just happened but he thought that bird was talking directly at him. But the bird wasn't moving his beak. He thought he must've hit something hard to think this but he thought it was complete nonsense to even think that an animal could talk without moving its mouth/beak.

He didn't know what to think of this but it was absolutely crazy. The hawk didn't try to kill him but he warned him? He really didn't want to believe that the hawk was actually talking to him but if he really did why did he not kill him? And why was he warning him about them and which _them_ was he talking about? Throbb started to scratch his head and wondered if it was Martin and Dianna the bird was speaking of.

Throbb got up and shook the water and mud off of him and he stared at the sky to make sure he didn't miss anything and then he made his way back to where the others were. Not only was the rain unbearably cold but he was starved. He wanted to eat the Silverwings ever since Martin mentioned them to him and Goth and he hoped to get his food supply and be on his way back to his beloved home.

* * *

It was hard for her to keep the ends of the rope in her hands and the urge to let go was very strong. She wanted to do it right now but that would only be rushing things. There would be no way she could stop them without a plan of course.

Kassidy watched as Martin, Dianna, and Goth were impatiently waiting for Throbb to get back to the shed. Martin was pacing the room back and forth, Dianna was drumming her fingers on her arm, while Goth was just staring at the hole in the ceiling. Kassidy then started to form a plan in her head: as soon as Martin actually had his back to her she would try to knock him out unconscious and then she would do the same thing to the other three once she took care of Martin.

As she waited for Martin to turn his back to her, she noticed that Goth was staring at her and even though she wasn't actually looking at him she could tell that he was watching her. She turned her head to him but Goth was already looking back up at the hole by the time her eyes actually laid on him.

Kassidy thought that Goth was really weird.

"Where the hell is he?" Martin asked. "I knew he was unsuitable for this task."

"He's unsuitable for anything, darling," Dianna said. "He's obese and an idiot."

"I know he can be unbearable at times, señorita," Goth said, "but I'm sure he's already on his way back here."

"Tch, whatever you say."

Goth scowled at Dianna.

Kassidy actually felt bad for Throbb because of the way he's been treated. She kind of felt guilty for even saying what she said to him when she was getting really infuriated.

"Amigos," Throbb burst through the opening of the ceiling and when he landed he was grinning at them. "I saw the two Silverwings and the Brightwing flying this way on the horizon and an owl is with them."

Kassidy's eyes widened. _No, no, no!_

Martin grinned and so did Dianna and Goth. "Excellent," Martin said. He then looked at Kassidy. "The show's about to start, orphan, but I hope you'll enjoy it because this is going to be one hell of a great night."

Kassidy looked up at the ceiling as she breathed very worried through her nose. Her friends… they were headed for a trap but what confused her was that Throbb mentioned that an owl was with them. She realized that it didn't matter at the moment, what mattered was that she had to save their lives.

* * *

**A/N- It was finally about time that I got another chapter in and I just feel glad. I was excited to write this chapter because I finally got to write another OC of mine in this, Lightning. I took the mind talking inspiration from a couple book series, The Inheritance Cycle series and the Villain series. The question is who is he and how does he know who Kassidy is? Next chapter will be out soon and have a nice day.**


	31. Fluid Theory of Electricity

**Warning: This contains blood and violence and if you are uncomfortable with that please do not read or try to skip over it.**

* * *

**Chapter 31**

**Fluid Theory of Electricity**

* * *

At this point, Holden wanted to shove a bunch of leaves up his ear holes as he was listening to the most boring pieces of information from Orestes about the towers of fire. It was bad enough he was lectured in school for almost half the day but he couldn't stand the fact that he was being taught something by the son of General Brutus. Holden didn't even know how Orestes knew all this information.

He didn't know what was worse: the lesson or the weather they were having at this moment. It was pouring rain like crazy and thunder and lightning could be seen in distances. As he saw the lightning and thunder in distances, it gave him a dreadful reminder of the day he fell from the sky with Shade when they were trying to travel with the colony and it still scared him to think that he could've died that day. When he thought this it made him shudder.

Like Holden, Shade was getting frustrated that Orestes was talking and talking about the towers of fire but Marina, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind listening to Orestes. However, Holden knew that if Kassidy were here right now she definitely would've liked what Orestes had to say. They were both practically geniuses and Kassidy would've known what half of the information was that Orestes was saying. He couldn't understand what some of the words Orestes was using and it was like some of these words weren't actually English.

"Look man," Holden said to Orestes and Orestes looked at him. "Would you please loosen the science lesson? We don't have time for any of that shit."

"Holden," Marina scowled at Holden, "would you watch what you say? He's just trying to make conversation with us."

"Marina, he has a point," Shade said as he was trying to keep up with everyone as he was huffing and puffing. "Martin, Dianna, Goth, and Throbb know about the sound map! They have Kassidy and who knows what they're doing to her right now and the colony is there! We have to fly faster!"

Marina sighed and Holden could see she was worried about Kassidy as well. She then looked back at Orestes. "Maybe you could tell us some of this another time. Right now we got a friend and a colony to save."

Orestes nodded. "Sure thing."

Holden kept looking ahead and just wanted to get to the destination fast. He prayed to God that they weren't too late and that they would be there on time. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to Kassidy nor the colony.

They then came to an opening and Holden saw before his eyes the destination that Shade was talking about. It all looked very dangerous and he could see electricity zapping in certain places far away from them so they were safe but looking at it made Holden's hands sweat. Flying in that would be a real nightmare for him or worse… He shook his head and didn't want that place to bother him. All that mattered at this moment was saving Kassidy and stopping the lying giant bats from eating the colony.

They flew towards a shed and while they did, Holden noticed that the top of the roof had a huge looking hole in it. He didn't know if it was him or not but the hole looked like it was… recently broken more by something. He had so many thoughts but if the giant bats were here with Kassidy hostage they had to act fast.

All of them landed carefully on the roof and while they did, Holden, Shade, and Marina were breathing hard as they carefully crawled on the roof. Orestes was looking at the high tech ahead of them very interested and fascinated at the same time but Holden didn't want to bother him but he looked towards the huge hole. He gulped and his heart rate was picking up but he couldn't let that get to him.

"Ka-" Before Holden could shout out for Kassidy, Marina gasped and covered Holden's mouth.

"Holden, are you crazy?" Marina whispered with her brow furrowed. "We have to be quiet; we can't let them know that we're here if they really are here." Marina looked at not only Holden, but Shade and Orestes as well. "I'll look through the hole we all saw and see if anyone's inside. You guys be on the lookout for anyone that's coming our way."

Marina dropped her hand from Holden's mouth and he wanted to protest but he then sighed as Marina went to go check out the hole. Holden then heard Shade sniffing the air and he looked to see that Shade looked like he was picking up on something. Holden looked around him but he didn't see anyone. Holden then looked back at Shade. "Smalls, what is it?" Holden whispered.

Shade stopped sniffing the air and he looked at Holden a little skittish. "Something doesn't smell right…"

Holden's eyes widened and then he whispered: "I don't like the sound of that…"

All the sudden, Marina gasped at something, Holden and Shade yelped, and Orestes screeched in fear. Shade jumped towards Marina to see what she was looking at but when he did, some of the tiles on the roof started to break apart and Shade sounded scared. Holden cussed in his head and he could hear his brain panicking like it was telling him that he needed to get the hell out of there otherwise he was dead.

Holden then saw that Orestes was flying closer to them and Holden gasped. "Dude, don't-" Before Holden could finish shouting at Orestes he landed and the roof broke and they all fell through it screaming.

They all smashed to the ground and grunted and some of the pieces from the roof fell on top of them or beside them. They all groaned in pain. Holden could feel his side of the body throbbing but he was at least glad he didn't break a bone in his body. Holden cursed in his head again and he was furious at Orestes for not listening to him.

They all sat up and Holden then looked at Orestes with his teeth bared and his brow furrowed. "Nice going, klutz! You broke the roof!" However, he noticed that Orestes was looking at something in horror and he then noticed that Shade and Marina had the same look of horror on their faces. "What the hell you guys staring at?"

Without looking at Holden, Shade pointed to what they were all staring at and when Holden looked his heart dropped. Standing right before them were the giant bats. His jaw dropped and he felt himself freeze in place. Whenever he looked at them he thought they were pretty cool, to begin with, but now that he looks at them now they were scary to look at like those scary clowns at circuses.

"Look who finally decided to drop in," Martin said sarcastically and Holden started to feel himself shake when he saw Martin and the other three giant bats approaching them. He then started to back away from them and so did Shade, Marina, and Orestes but the giant bats kept walking towards them. "What's the matter? Bat got your tongue?"

The four giant bats laughed and as they did, Holden, Shade, Marina, and Orestes started to hear another noise as they felt their backs hit the wall. They looked by the giant bats and their eyes widened when they saw Kassidy tied up to a table leg and she had duct tape sealed on her mouth to prevent her from speaking but she was trying to call out to them.

"Kass," Shade shouted to Kassidy and he tried to get past the giant bats but Martin grabbed him roughly and then he threw him to the wall and Shade's back hit the wall and he cried out in pain.

Marina gasped. "Shade!" Marina got to Shade and Shade was making painful noises as she had her hand on his back.

Holden looked at his friend shocked but he then looked back at Martin and he no longer felt fear. He was snarling at him. "You piece of shit!" Holden was about to jump at Martin and tackle him to the ground but Martin all the sudden held his hand out towards him and lightning was formed in and around his hand.

Holden, Shade, Marina, and Orestes looked at the lightning in Martin's hand horrified. The lightning was very green and Holden backed up until his back hit the wall again and his fear came back again. He felt his body shaking again as he didn't want the lightning to touch him. He didn't want to get electrocuted by a psychopath.

Martin then laughed as he looked at Holden. "That's cute what you just did there, Chatty Bat, really." Martin then furrowed his brow "But you really should think twice before attacking someone that's twice your size."

Shade looked at Martin with his teeth bared. "You let Kass go!"

Martin looked at Shade and then he started to laugh. "And what're you going to do about it, runt? You got no power to stop me." Orestes was trying to back away some more from them and Martin noticed with a smirk. "Oh, what do we have here?" Martin then stepped on Orestes's tail feathers and he looked at him closely as Orestes was looking scared. Martin then looked at Holden, Shade, and Marina. "You three remember how we like owls?" Martin then got off of Orestes's tail feathers. "Perhaps this should be my first course for tonight."

Martin then raised his hand with the lighting on it up and Orestes shook as Martin smiled sinisterly at him. His three companions watched while smiling. Shade and Marina gasped. Holden knew it was risky but he acted fast and he got in front of Martin and he did the best that he could to be brave so he could try to protect Orestes. Even though he was still mad at Orestes for breaking the roof he couldn't let Martin kill Orestes. He bared his teeth and growled as Martin lowered his arm.

"Oh, lookie here," Dianna said mockingly. "Chatty Bat has come to the little owl's rescue."

Holden kept staring at Martin and even though Martin's snake eyes were really scaring him he stood his ground. "You'll have to go through me first, Grandpa."

Martin's eyes widened and his companions' smiles went down. Shade, Marina, and Orestes looked at Holden shocked. Holden could feel his hands shake but he didn't move from his spot.

Martin then scowled. "You are a stupid boy, but if it's a death wish that you ask for then I'll gladly give it to you."

Martin then raised the same hand, ready to strike Holden and Holden heard Shade and Marina yelling his name and they tried to get him but Martin's companions stopped them. Holden's eyes widened in fear to see the lightning in Martin's hand and he braced himself. Holden could feel that he was going to die and he wished he had the chance to say goodbye to a lot of people he knew, but now he wouldn't be able to have that chance.

Martin smirked and was ready to electrocute Holden.

"HEY!"

Martin stopped in his tracks. He then slowly turned his head and looked up and when he did he was shocked. Everyone looked to where Martin looked and they were shocked as well. Standing on the table looking at Martin furiously was Kassidy.

"Kass," Holden shouted towards her.

Martin stuttered and he tried to find his words as the lightning in his hand dematerialized. "H-How did you-"

"You know you really gotta pay attention more if you don't want any of your prisoners to escape. But I should thank you for not checking to see if I was tied up properly because now you're not going to get away with this." She then looked at Holden, Shade, Marina, and Orestes. "Guys, move!"

Without hesitating, Holden, Shade, Marina, and Orestes flew out of the way and when they did, Kassidy used her spell on a chair and she threw it towards the giant bats. Goth and Throbb jumped out of the way and dropped to the floor to cover their heads but Martin and Dianna stayed in place and Martin then held out his hands to stop the chair from flying towards them and then he threw it in a different direction and the chair smashed to the wall with a loud thud and crashed to the ground and broke. Without Martin looking, Kassidy flew towards him and did a flying drop kick to his face and Martin yelped surprised and he hit the floor. Kassidy was airborne in front of Martin as he was getting up and he was snarling at her and he started to swipe at her but Kassidy dodged his swipes as she flapped her wings. Martin then used his electricity magic and he threw it towards Kassidy but he missed as soon as Kassidy flew out the hole in the roof. Martin looked really pissed.

He then looked at his companions. "These four are all yours." He then looked back at the hole in the roof Kassidy flew through. "I've got some _witch_ hunting to do." Martin then lifted his wings and he took off through the hole and went after Kassidy.

Holden, Shade, Marina, and Orestes were huddled together as they saw the scene shocked but then they saw Dianna, Goth, and Throbb approach them slowly. Holden smiled nervously. "C-Come on guys, let's talk about this…"

"We got nothing to talk about, Chatty Bat," Dianna said icily. But then she looked at Marina and she sneered at her and it made Marina gasp. "I call dibs on the Brightwing."

All the sudden, the three giant bats started to attack the four of them and Holden, Shade, Marina, and Orestes screamed as they dodged out of their attacks and try to escape them. They kept ducking and dodging the giant bats' attacks and the four of them were then flying around the shed, trying to escape the giant bats but Orestes managed to escape but Holden, Shade, and Marina were still trying to escape for their lives.

* * *

She was outside now in the roaring rain and howling wind and immediately was freezing her body off as soon as she got outside. But at this moment it didn't matter because all that mattered was her new opponent she had to face out here. She glided in midair and looked towards the roof she flew out through and waited. She was ready to face her opponent.

All the sudden, Martin burst out through the roof and he was then glaring daggers at Kassidy. Eyes locked on each other they snarled at each other in the rain and they both knew that they were going to fight to the death. Lightning sounded and it was at a distance but it was as if it was indicating to them to fight.

They then charged at each other.

And the fight began.

They crashed to the ground and they were now covered in mud but their eyes could only lock on each other as they fought. Martin tried to punch Kassidy but she moved her head out of the way in time just for his fist to hit the muddy ground and she concentrated on getting the details on the mud spell right and as she did she then flicked her hand towards Martin and the mud splashed at his face. Martin yelled in rage as he wiped the mud off his face and without him looking, Kassidy did what she always did with her magic and she used her water spell and she directed it towards Martin and when she did, Martin yelped when he got knocked to the ground by Kassidy's water spell as if he was getting sprayed by a hose but in a quick movement, without Kassidy noticing, Martin made the grass under Kassidy's feet grow a few inches and then he scrunched his hand together and the grass around Kassidy's feet locked on her feet tightly and he then flicked his wrist towards the grass that had Kassidy's feet secured and the grass made Kassidy fall to the ground and Kassidy yelped and she hit the muddy ground.

Kassidy groaned and before she could get up she felt a hard force kick her in the stomach and Kassidy yelled out in pain as she held her stomach, feeling the wind knock out of her. She looked up and she saw that Martin was about to punch her but then she saw an owl coming towards them and in a split second the owl pushed Martin using his body and Martin yelped and he then hit face first into the mud. Kassidy looked at the owl and she saw that it was the same owl that was with her friends and he looked to be around her and their age.

"You okay?" The owl asked.

Kassidy got up. "Yeah, thanks."

The owl's eyes then widened and he was looking at something behind Kassidy and Kassidy turned to see Martin getting up and his face was now completely covered in mud. He was snarling but he then wiped the mud off his face. Martin then yelled in anger and he tried to hit Kassidy but Kassidy dodged in time and she then did a hook kick to Martin's face and Martin hit the ground again. Kassidy was then breathing hard.

"Hey, your colony!"

Kassidy looked to the owl and then she looked up and she was shocked to see that the Silverwings were coming this way. She looked back at the owl. "They can't land here!" She said as lightning struck again.

"I think I can help!"

"Hurry, then! I'll distract him while you're at it!"

The owl nodded and made his way to the sky. Kassidy looked at Martin and he was snarling as he held his face and was getting up slowly. She couldn't let him hurt any of the colony members. But how?

But then she saw something ahead of her that was highly dangerous to go near and Orestes was flying towards it. Electricity was shooting in certain places where no one dares to go near and that place she certainly knew was the power electrical relay station. This was a huge risk but she had to do this one way or another.

She looked back at Martin as she flew up to the sky. "Hey!" Martin looked up and he saw Kassidy getting his attention. "You want me? Come and get me!"

To Kassidy's surprise, Martin smiled sinisterly. "Much obliged, orphan."

Martin lifted from the ground and Kassidy flapped her wings at a fast rate towards the power electrical relay station and as she did her eyes widened at the sound of Martin's sinister laugh. It kind of made her slow her wing flaps and when she realized it she flapped even harder and they were then flying into a danger zone.

"Such a strong one," Martin shouted towards Kassidy.

Martin was then chasing Kassidy around the danger zone and Kassidy made sure that he would only chase her. Martin did some attempts at using spells on her but Kassidy was quick enough to dodge them and she continued to fly for her life as Martin kept chasing and trying to get her.

* * *

The giant bats kept chasing them but the three friends wouldn't give in to them as they tried their hardest to escape. Holden was being chased by Throbb, Shade was being chased by Goth, while Marina was being chased by Dianna. Three against three.

Holden was breathing hard as Throbb was chasing him all over the place like it was tag but this was not a friendly game. Throbb had a hungry look in his eyes as he was trying to grab Holden and Holden was doing the best that he could to escape him and he saw that Shade and Marina were still trying to escape their chasers as well.

He tried to fly out through the hole in the roof but out of nowhere, Throbb blocked his way and he was grinning at him. "Amigo, guess who's coming to dinner?"

Holden yelped. "Get away from me you creepy gremlin!"

Holden bolted away from Throbb and as he did, Holden screamed as Throbb continued to chase him. At some points, Throbb tried to bite his feet but Holden pulled them in in time and he cursed.

He then saw Shade get cornered by Goth and he thought he should go help him but all the sudden, Shade made a quick move and bit Goth's foot and when he did, Goth yelped in pain and held his foot and Shade took his chance to escape. Holden was glad Shade outsmarted Goth. Goth looked at Shade and snarled and he took off after him once again.

Holden thought he was going to tire out but he then saw Shade and Goth coming towards him. He and Shade locked eyes at each other and they both knew exactly what they were thinking. They nodded and they flew even faster and when they got close enough they flew up at the same time and then Goth and Throbb rammed their heads against each other and they crashed to the ground. They groaned in pain as they held their heads.

The boys landed on the table breathing hard but then they saw Marina still being chased by Dianna and they gasped. Marina was screaming as Dianna was trying to kill her. All the sudden Dianna swiped her claws at Marina and Marina tried to dodge them but a claw of Dianna's managed to scratch Marina's leg and Marina cried out in pain.

Shade looked at Holden. "Holden, she needs our help!"

Holden saw that Marina was losing energy and if they didn't help her, Dianna would surely kill her. Holden looked around him and then he saw a paint bucket near them that was near the edge and it was filled with blue paint. An idea clicked in his head and this might've been the best idea he ever came up with.

Holden got next to the paint bucket and he looked back at Shade. "We can use this!"

Shade looked confused at first but then his eyes widened at the realization of what Holden was trying to get at here. He got next to the paint bucket with Holden and then they both looked up at Marina. "Marina!" Shade shouted towards her.

Marina looked at the boys and she saw them have their hands on the paint bucket and her eyes widened but then she looked at Dianna with a mischievous smile. "Hey, Dianna! What's taking so long to kill me? Are you really that lazy or what?" Dianna's eye twitched and then she bared her teeth and growled and she flew even faster after Marina. Marina dove under the table and Dianna dove in after her. "Now!"

The boys pushed on the paint bucket and when they did, Marina flew out in time but Dianna didn't as the paint bucket fell on top of her and she yelped. She crashed to the ground and the blue paint was all over the place. Including Dianna. Dianna got the paint bucket off of her and she screamed in utter disgust and this caused Goth and Throbb to look up at her. Goth and Throbb's foreheads now had bumps forming on them. Their eyes widened in surprise when they saw Dianna covered in paint and she was now really furious. She wiped some of the paint off of her face in rage and she growled.

Marina landed next to the boys and they looked at her. "Marina, you alright?" Shade asked worried.

Marina hissed in pain and the boys saw that the front of her leg was bleeding. She then nodded. "I'm fine."

Holden then noticed something that he did not notice before. On a counter, there was a radio. Holden's eyes widened but then he smiled as another idea came to mind. He then looked back at his friends. "Guys, I got an idea." Holden took off and Shade and Marina looked at him confused but they followed him anyways.

They landed on the counter where the radio was and when they did they saw Dianna wiping more of the paint off of her as Goth and Throbb were getting up. Holden cupped his hands near his mouth. "Hey, assholes!" The three giant bats stopped what they were doing and they looked up at Holden. "I got two things to say: dance fight!"

Holden then pressed play on the radio and some hip hop music came on. Holden then flew to the ground and landed and when he did, he started to dance. He did his crazy dance moves and they were like the music that was playing. The giant bats looked at him confused and watched as Holden was dancing.

Holden looked up at his friends. "Guys, come on! Dance!"

Shade and Marina looked at each other but they then flew to the ground next to Holden and they watched what he did. They looked hesitant but they tried to dance like Holden only Holden was doing the better dancing. The giant bats looked at them not sure what to do at this moment as they were looking at this weirded out.

Holden looked at them as he continued to dance with Shade and Marina. "Man you guys suck at this. Even my little brother is better at dancing than you guys."

The three giant bats then scowled at Holden. "You really don't know when to shut up, do you?" Goth said.

Holden smiled at Goth. "Yeah, you're right. I don't know when to shut up."

"God, I can't wait until you three are dead," Dianna said.

The three giant bats once again tried to attack the three friends but as they did the three friends danced dodged out of the way. The three friends flew to air and the giant bats tried to chase them and kill them once again but as they were the three friends continued to dance and the giant bats were getting really frustrated because they couldn't kill or catch them.

At one time, Holden danced in front of Throbb as he was near a door that had a window to it and Throbb charged at him but in a slick motion, Holden danced out of the way and Throbb ended up crashing into the window of the door instead. Throbb groaned when he was on the ground outside but he then snarled, shook his head, got up, and flew back in the house to see Holden still dancing.

"Hey, Throbb, you might want to try some cardio," Holden mocked. "That's a good way to lose a few pounds on you!"

Throbb chased Holden again and he, Shade, and Marina continued to dance and taunt the giant bats. The giant bats were not finding this funny and they really wanted to kill them now.

"Guys," Holden and Shade looked to Marina and they quickly flew next to her. "We should fly through up there now!"

The boys looked up at the hole in the roof and then they looked back at the giant bats and they then realized what Marina was trying to get at here and they smiled at each other. The three friends flew up and as they did they flew out at the same time without getting stuck, however, Dianna, Goth, and Throbb were way too much in a rage that they didn't realize what was coming to them and then they all got stuck in the hole in the roof. They tried to get out but it was hard for them to do so and they were then arguing.

The three friends looked back at the giant bats and they started to laugh. "Oh my god," Holden said as he laughed. "I wish I had my camera!"

"They sure do look hilarious," Shade said and the three of them laughed again.

"Hey, guys." The giant bats looked up at Holden still furious. "Tight fit? I think that's a perfect size for you guys!"

The three friends laughed again and the giant bats bared their teeth and growled. Dianna and Goth threatened them so loudly anyone could hear them from an earshot.

"Guys, over here," the three friends heard Orestes and he was flying towards them. They flew to Orestes fast and Orestes looked worried but scared about something.

"Orestes, where's Kass!?" Shade asked worried.

"She's trying to stop that giant bat! And she's in there!" Orestes pointed at the place he was talking to them about when they were flying here and the three friends gasped when they saw Martin chasing Kassidy and he was sometimes using his spells at her but she was maneuvering out of the way in time and as she did, Martin was laughing the craziest laugh Holden's ever heard in his life.

"Guys, what do we do?" Marina said. "Martin's going to kill her if we don't do something!"

Shade looked back at Kassidy and Martin and he a determined look in his eyes. He looked back at Holden, Marina, and Orestes. "I'm going in!"

"Wait, what?" Shade flew towards the danger zone without saying another word. "Shade!"

Holden was scared that Martin was going to hurt not only Kassidy but Shade too. He couldn't lose two of his friends today. Holden furrowed his brow and he looked at Marina and Orestes. "You guys go hide! I'm going to help!" Holden flew into the danger zone and even though he was scared of getting electrocuted he wanted to help his friends.

"Holden," Marina shouted after him.

* * *

She felt her whole body aching and she was having a hard time breathing as she was trying to get away from Martin. She couldn't give up. She just couldn't.

Kassidy saw electricity coming her way but it wasn't from Martin's magic, it was from the high tech she was flying through. She gasped and she banked sharply to the right before the electricity could even touch her wing tip. She breathed relieved and she looked behind her to see that Martin was nowhere in sight.

Thinking that she lost him, she roosted somewhere safe and when she did, she placed her hand on a beam and tried to catch her breath. She looked around her but she saw no one. She then placed her forehead on the smooth and cool surface of the beam and tried to calm down but how could she when Martin was still after her? She felt her hands shake but she growled and tried to stay strong.

But then lightning was in the sky and while she still had her forehead and her hand on the beam trying to breathe she didn't realize that Martin was roosting above her. She noticed a shadow was on her and when she was about to look she felt someone push the back of her head roughly and her face slammed against the surface of which her forehead was on and she tried to move but a strong force was pushed against her. She looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened when she saw Martin staring down at her grinning and her breath was stuck in her throat as she stared at Martin.

"Thought you could get away orphan?" Martin then laughed. "Now, how should I teach you a lesson? Should I break your arm or should I damage your face?"

Kassidy furrowed her brow and bared her teeth at Martin. "Drop dead!"

Martin furrowed his brow but then he grinned again. "Now I have my answer." Martin grabbed Kassidy's hair and he was about to slam her face against the hard surface of the beam again but all of a sudden something grabbed Martin's ears and tugged at them.

Martin yelped and as he was trying to swipe at who was pulling at his ears. Kassidy looked and her eyes widened when she saw Shade. "Shade, get out of here!" Kassidy shouted.

"No," Shade shouted at Kassidy. "I'm not going to let you do this alone!"

Martin growled and he grabbed Shade's feet and he threw him and Shade screamed. But then, Holden jumped at Martin and they fell towards the ground. Kassidy gasped and she looked down. Holden was scratching at Martin's face and biting it as they were falling from the sky. Martin's wings then extended out and he then had Holden in his grasp and he then pinned him on a beam and Holden then yelled out in pain when the crash was forced on him.

Kassidy gasped seeing that Martin was going to kill Holden. She couldn't allow that to happen.

"Like I said before Chatty Bat: think twice before you attack someone twice your size," Martin hissed and Holden's eyes widened in fear and Martin's face was now bleeding and covered in scratches thanks to what Holden did. "But now I think it's time that I _actually _gave you your death wish."

Martin's jaw dropped and he gasped in fear and Martin was about to plunge his teeth into Holden's neck but Kassidy yelled in anger and tried to jump on Martin but Martin saw Kassidy and he flicked his hand in the air towards her and the wind blew in her direction, making her spin out of control and Kassidy's back hit a beam and she then fell onto another beam and she groaned in pain from the impact she felt. She looked up and without Martin looking, Holden bit his hand and Martin yelped in pain and then out of nowhere, Shade used his body to knock Martin off the beam and Martin yelped again and fell. The boys took off and landed on the beam Kassidy was on as she slowly got up.

"Kass, you alright?" Shade asked.

Kassidy grunted but she nodded. "Don't worry about me." She then gasped when she saw Martin charging at them in anger and acting fast, Kassidy pushed Holden and Shade out of the way and then Martin rammed into her.

"Kass!" The boys shouted.

Martin all the sudden bit into Kassidy's shoulder as they were both in midair and Kassidy cried out in pain as his teeth sunk real deep into her skin and she could feel blood pouring all over her, but Kassidy punched him to the face and Martin then released his teeth from her shoulder. Kassidy's shoulder had a deep wound and it was the exact same place where she got burnt from the fire when she was in the burnings of Tree Haven. Martin was about to attack Kassidy again but the boys started to distract him and Martin was getting really annoyed with them. He chased them around and he used his magic to try and kill them.

Kassidy was breathing hard and even though her shoulder was bleeding and it hurt real badly she wouldn't let that stop her from saving her friends. She bared her teeth, growled, and she beat her wings as fast as she could to try and save her friends.

* * *

Marina was hiding with Orestes behind a tree safe from the dangerous human construction with Orestes and they watched in horror at the sight they were seeing. Marina saw Martin bit into Kassidy's shoulder when she saved Shade and Holden and it scared Marina thinking that Martin was actually going to kill her, but luckily the boys came to her rescue. Now Martin was chasing the boys and Marina saw Kassidy trying to catch up to them as fast as she could but Marina saw that Kassidy's wound on her shoulder did not look too good.

"My Dad is going to love this," Orestes said.

Marina, on the other hand, gasped while watching her friends being hunted down by a maniac of a wizard and she couldn't bring herself to watch this and she covered her eyes with her hands.

She then felt Orestes's wing nudge her. "Marina, look!"

Marina looked at Orestes and he was pointing at something. Marina looked and she gasped again when she saw that Dianna, Goth, and Throbb were close to getting out of the hole they were all stuck in but they continued to argue. But then lightning struck through the window in which Throbb broke through when he was trying to get Holden and then Dianna kept yelling at the brothers to move faster and they yelled at her that they were moving. They managed to get out but all of a sudden the shed exploded making a big boom and it caused Dianna, Goth, and Throbb to shoot through the air and they screamed. And then they all hit their own tree and they then fell to the ground and they were knocked out unconscious.

Marina and Orestes were shocked and they looked at each other but then they looked back at Kassidy, Holden, Shade, and Martin in the danger zone and they gasped.

* * *

She put all her might into it but it seemed that she was going slow but she didn't want to give up. She kept going to try and help her friends at any cost it would take.

But then, Martin all of the sudden grabbed Shade and Shade yelped and he then threw him at Holden and Holden yelped and the boys screamed as they crashed to the ground. Martin laughed hysterically and this made Kassidy furious and she flew faster at Martin. Martin was about to go after the boys but Kassidy blocked his path and snarled at him.

"Eat this, you bastard," Kassidy shouted and then she punched him to the face.

Martin shook his head after Kassidy punched him and then he growled at her and he began to chase her again. Kassidy tried to get away but her shoulder was really bugging her. She hissed in pain but she didn't stop.

But then she remembered something. She looked at Martin's band and then the electricity and then she had an idea. She had a determined look in her eyes as she flew towards the nearest electricity and then she held her hand out and she concentrated on getting the electricity to her fingers without getting electrocuted and she did what she needed to do. And then some of the electricity went to her fingers and as it did, Kassidy could feel as it flowed through her and on her body and its power was growing on her. It was unlike anything anyone could've ever seen and she kept getting more and more.

She looked back at Martin and then she flew up into the night sky with the electricity still on her and her eyes were now the same kind of electricity as it was on her body and Martin noticed and he stopped in his tracks and gasped at Kassidy shocked. Kassidy yelled in anger and as she did the electricity shot at Martin like a lightning bolt and then it struck him, Martin cried out in pain as he was being electrocuted and as he did the electricity boomed in his direction and he shot through the sky like he was a rocket lifting off as he continued to cry out in pain and he then crashed to land.

The electricity on Kassidy demolished and she breathed hard. She was shocked by what she did. Never in her life had she done something like this. It felt so… unnatural.

She shook her head and then she set her course to where Martin crashed at. After a minute she then found him lying still on the ground. Smoke was coming off of him and he wasn't moving. Kassidy's eyes widened and she saw that Martin was dead as she landed near a ledge.

Her friends and the owl landed next to her and they looked at the scene before them as Kassidy placed her hand on her forehead and breathed. They were shocked as well. "It's over guys…" Marina said.

"No," Shade said, "It's just begun…" And they all knew that he was right.

Kassidy then started to feel lightheaded and her vision was starting to spin and she didn't feel right. She was trying to breathe and she could hear her friends asking her if she was alright but all she could hear was ringing. And then her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she fell to the ground and passed out.

* * *

**A/N- Wow! All I can say is is that this is the longest chapter I've written on here so far but I enjoyed writing this chapter. This chapter title was inspired by Benjamin Franklin's theory that electricity was one fluid and I thought it would fit nicely in this chapter. Well, next chapter will be out soon and until then, later.**


	32. It Was Magic?

**Chapter 32**

**It Was… Magic?**

* * *

"Holy crap," Holden shouted. "Kass!"

Holden, Shade, Marina, and Orestes circled around Kassidy and she wasn't moving and her eyes were closed. Shade got on his knees and he started to shake Kassidy. "Kass, hey! Come on, wake up! Wake up!"

Marina got on her knees and she then gasped when she saw the wound on Kassidy's shoulder. It was very deep and her shoulder was still bleeding and it was getting all over her as well and some of it was now turning dry. Teeth marks could be seen on Kassidy's shoulder and Holden was not only worried but he also wondered if bats could give other bats rabies. Did Martin even have rabies? Holden shook his head knowing that this wasn't a good time to think this.

"Guys, she's losing a lot of blood," Marina said. "We need to get her shoulder treated and fast! We need to find shelter!"

"I think I saw a tree we could use," Orestes said. "I don't even think it's occupied by anyone."

"Well we better hurry then," Holden said. "But who's going to carry Kass?"

"I'll do it, besides I'm big enough to carry her." Orestes flew off the ground and he gently grabbed Kassidy and he then flew to the tree that he saw and the others followed him.

As they were flying, Holden couldn't stop thinking about Kassidy saving his and Shade's life. It was way too risky but very brave at the same time. She didn't have to do it but yet she did. That wound was probably too much for her. The magic probably was even for the cause of her passing out.

Holden couldn't believe what Kassidy did out there. He saw her grabbing electricity with her magic and the electricity was around her and there was a lot of it. She was powered up like she actually gained a power-up. All she pretty much looked like was electricity. Holden even saw that Martin looked shocked by what she did and he could see why. Her eyes didn't look like her regular blue eyes but instead, they looked more like the electricity that was around Kassidy. She was like Storm from X-Men.

The blast of electricity from Kassidy's hands looked very powerful; powerful enough to even kill someone and he knew for sure that there was no way that Martin could've survived that. Holden saw that Kassidy's eyes were widened when she saw Martin on the ground laying stiff but Holden was much more horrified when Kassidy collapsed to the ground and passed out than when he saw Martin get electrocuted. He was much more concerned for Kassidy than the dead body of a killer. Even though looking at that body was very disturbing he knew Kassidy's injury was much more important.

As they were flying, Marina told Holden and Shade to grab some leaves and some healing poultice that they all saw and that's exactly what those two did in a fast time and they hurried to catch up with Marina and Orestes and just in time, Orestes found the tree he was talking about and without checking to see if anyone was inside or not they immediately took action and went in. Orestes placed Kassidy on the ground gingerly and then he and the others got on the ground and surrounded Kassidy.

Marina looked at Holden. "Holden spread the poultice on Kassidy's shoulder."

Holden nodded and he got on his knees near Kassidy and he was about to apply the poultice on Kassidy's shoulder but something strange started to happen and it stopped him from applying the poultice on Kassidy's shoulder.

Her wound started to close up.

Holden gasped as the wound on Kassidy started to close up and when the others saw what was happening as well they gasped as well. The bleeding stopped and no teeth marks could be seen. The blood that was dry or fresh on Kassidy started to disappear and then the wound was no more. It was gone and all the four of them could see was a shoulder that was in good condition.

Holden blinked his eyes and then he shook his head and he thought he was going crazy. He looked again but Kassidy's shoulder still looked as if nothing happened to it. He was then beginning to question a lot of things in his head that could be unexplainable but he knew that the others saw what he saw so it meant he wasn't going delusional. How could that wound of closed up so fast if Kassidy wasn't awake to do that?

They all then looked at each other. "How did…?" Shade was lost for words at that moment as he looked back at Kassidy's shoulder and the leaves that he had in his hands dropped to the ground.

"Are we actually losing our minds right now?" Holden asked as he looked back at Kassidy's shoulder.

"Well, there was no way Kass _actually _did… what just happened there," Marina said.

"This never happened before?" Orestes asked confused and the three bats looked at the owl.

"No, I don't even think she could do anything like this," Holden said. "She's a witch but she's not an experienced one."

Orestes looked back at Kassidy's shoulder and he observed it very carefully like he was a doctor examining a patient. "Well… what other exclamation could there be?"

"Maybe this is what people with magic can do?" Holden said as he scratched his head.

"I don't think so," Shade said. "Because remember when she got burned by the fire on her shoulder when she was stuck inside Tree Haven while it was burning? That injury didn't heal up for a while but it eventually did when we were still in the city."

Shade was right of course. After Zephyr gave Kassidy the medicine she needed for her shoulder it eventually healed in about two to three days. Holden was just getting more and more confused by the minute. If it wasn't her magic that healed up the wound then what did?

Marina got on her knees and she put her ear near Kassidy's heart and she listened for her heartbeats. After a minute she then looked back up at the boys. "She's at least still alive and that's all that matters. When Kassidy wakes up she'll probably have an explanation for this but for now, we should let her rest."

Holden sighed but then he realized something and his eyes widened. "Guys, what about Dianna, Goth, and Throbb? What even happened to them?"

Marina and Orestes looked at each other and then they looked back at Holden and Shade. "We saw them get unstuck from the hole they were in but when they got out of it the human place all the sudden exploded and it sent them towards the trees and we saw them get knocked out," Marina explained.

"What if they wake up soon?" Shade asked. "Once they do they'll likely come looking for us so they can try to eat the colony and I can't even imagine what Dianna will do to us once she sees her husband dead…"

Holden rubbed his neck at the thought of those three coming after them. He really could see Dianna coming after them especially. Her husband was now dead and she would more than likely have her revenge on them. She really looked like a deadly killer and she was even as close to killing Marina.

"I think I got a solution," Orestes said.

The three bats looked at the owl. "You do?" Shade asked surprised.

Orestes nodded. "I can get a few owl guards to come with me to get Dianna, Goth, and Throbb and get them locked up, that way you guys won't have a problem with them anymore. I'll even have them go check out Martin's body and once my father sees that there really are giant bats he'll have to believe that it wasn't your colony that was doing the killing nor Kassidy that's been the cause of all of this."

Shade thought about this and then his eyes lit up. "And once Brutus sees them he might call off hunting down the colony."

Shade smiled at Holden and Marina and they were smiling as well. This was too good to be true and Holden realized that they might actually get out of the situation they were in and then they wouldn't have to worry about this anymore.

Holden looked back at Orestes. "Orestes, this is perfect! After Brutus sees the real truth it'll all be over."

"You think you can handle it?" Marina asked.

"Not a problem," Orestes said. "I should get going anyways. I'll do everything I can to take care of the giant bats. Will you guys be alright?"

"Well, as long as we don't get targeted by anyone else I think we should be good," Holden said. "Owls and giant bats are more than enough I can take."

"You can say that again," Shade said.

"Well, good luck, Orestes," Marina said with encouragement, "and be careful."

"Yeah and thanks, we owe you one."

Orestes smiled and nodded. "No problem, I'm happy to help. Oh, and tell Kassidy I said hi and hope she'll be okay."

"We will," Marina said.

Orestes turned away from them and he flew out of the tree into the night flying into the rain (which was now drizzling and no longer thundering). They watched as Orestes kept flying until his figure disappeared. Even though Holden had a bad start with Orestes he thought that owl was very nice and friendly and he didn't even act like Brutus. He hoped to see Orestes sometime soon again.

Holden then noticed that Marina was wincing and he saw that her leg was still bleeding. Shade noticed too and he looked concerned for her. Shade picked up one of the leaves that was on the ground and he walked over to Marina and he extended it to her. "Here, you might need this."

Marina looked at the leaf in Shade's hand surprised but she then smiled weakly. "Thanks."

Marina took the leaf from Shade's hand as she did, her fingers brushed on Shade's hand and Holden didn't know if it was him or not but he thought he saw Shade's eyes widened for a second. Marina wiped the blood that was dripping down her leg with the leaf and as she did, Shade watched with the same concern in his eyes. Holden sat down next to Kassidy and watched as Marina was cleaning the blood off her leg and he watched as Shade kept staring at her. Shade got another leaf and he gave it to Marina and Marina accepted it and she applied it on the scratch on her leg like it was a band-aid.

Holden then looked at Kassidy and her eyes were still closed. Holden sighed and he wished he didn't let Kassidy risk her life for his and Shade's. He, in fact, wished it was him that got bitten to the shoulder and not her. Even though he didn't want any more scars he no longer cared. Scars or no scars it didn't change a fact that Kassidy could've died out there. Why did she have to take so many risks?

The night would soon turn into day and even though he knew they should all get some rest soon, Holden wanted to do something he never did for a long time. Holden got on his knees and he folded his hands and he placed them near his head and he bent over to the ground and he started to pray.

_God? I don't know if you can hear me-mostly because you're probably too busy-but I hope you are. I haven't done this for some time now but now in a moment like this I am in desperate need of your help… Pathetic, I know I'm asking you for help but I really need it and so do my friends. We're in a bad situation right now and trying to survive out here has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. You probably have better things to do than trying to help four teenagers but I hope that's not the case._

Holden could feel Shade and Marina watching him but he kept going. _Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that we need the strength for the journey. Also, my friend, Kassidy needs more help than any of us right now. She is badly injured-or at least she was… I think-and she mostly needs to be healed. God, I know I haven't been the best person anyone would want me to be but I am begging you to help us and heal Kassidy and if you do I promise for the life of me I will work my ass off to improve my grades in school and not get into a whole load of trouble than I usually do. Even if my friends look up to you or not, we need your help… God, please hear me… Please help us…_

* * *

The rain stopped pouring but the area was a muddy wreck and it was very foggy out that you could hardly see a thing from a mile away. It had a creepy vibe to it but the crows didn't mind, however.

A little bit ago, these crows were trying to find breakfast and they found something that looked worth their while. It was a bat, but not just any bat. It was a giant one. It was too good to be true and he looked to be dead. Smoke could be seen coming off of him, his hair and fur were singed, he used to be muddy but the rain cleared the mud off of him, and his face looked disastrous with all the scratch marks on it and it was covered with dried blood.

It was a cooked bat for the crows.

One crow hopped over near the bat and took a very good look at him. What he found somewhat disturbing on the bat was that he saw snakes on his arms. They looked real but they weren't moving but they were terrifying to look at. To be sure though that the bat was _actually_ dead, the crow pecked at the bat's arm and when he did, the bat didn't make any signs of movement.

The crow smirked but the moment didn't last long. All of the sudden the crow felt his throat tighten and he saw that a hand was around his throat and was strangling him. When he looked down he saw that it was the bat that had his hand around his throat and the crow cawed in freight and tried to escape by flapping his wings but the grip around his throat was too tight and then his neck snapped and his body went lifeless.

Martin shot open his eyes and he looked to see what he killed and he saw that it was a measly crow. He snarled in anger and as he did, he threw the crow as far as he could and the fire was slowly starting to form and it was coursing through his veins and then he yelled in anger and as he did the fire spread all over his body. The crows that were around him cawed in fear and they spiraled back to the sky and flew away as fast as they could so they wouldn't end up as their friend did.

After he yelled in anger for some time, Martin then eventually tried to calm down but he was still furious that he could let some inexperienced witch of an orphan electrocute him and get away with it. His body felt weak and it didn't even feel like his strong self like it usually did. Instead, he could feel a vibration within him and it did not feel pleasant at all as it was very painful. Not only that, he felt extremely dizzy like he got intoxicated. He then started to feel something coming up his throat and before he could comprehend what was about to happen he got on his knees and he hurled on the muddy land. He started to cough after it all came out of him and he managed not to touch the barf or get any on him.

He slowly got up and he wiped the barf from his mouth with his arm. Standing up really didn't help him as he wanted to lie back down but lying down to rest was like giving up and Martin was not going to lie down so easily and even though the pain was unbearable he still had some unfinished business.

He knew he should look for his wife and those ridiculous brothers but he was so weak that he could barely walk. He needed his strength back. He needed to consume magic.

He lifted his jolted arm and then with a flick of his hand he commanded the magic-getting everything he needed down to do the transportation spell-to his home and then the magic surrounded him and then in an instant he was standing in his house that was in the middle of nowhere and outside his house it was snowing a little bit and on the windows of his house it was fogging up with some icicles forming on the transom on the outside of them. The inside of his house was nothing great, it was dusty with some cobwebs in certain places and he thought the smell of the inside of the house was strange but weird as it never smelt like what he was smelling at this moment but he really wasn't taking any notice of it as he was only more focused on what he needed.

He stumbled to his and Dianna's bedroom and as he did he held to the side of the wall as he tried to walk. In his bedroom, there was a queen-sized bed, a lamp standing on a bedside table, a dresser, a closet, and a very beautiful and colorful painting with the setting in it taking place in China. In the painting, it had a misty mountain, a temple, and vibrant colors in the leaves on the trees, with a stone bridge that was over a water landscape. It was like you were actually in China.

As he kept walking, Martin focused only on the painting that was above the dresser and he then lifted his shaken arm and he then concentrated on moving the painting on the wall making sure that he did everything correctly in his spell and within seconds the painting was removed from the wall and it was then placed on the queen bed. Martin then lifted from the ground and he stumbled a little in midair but he managed to land on top of the dresser and then he looked to where the painting once was on the wall and on the wall there was a large looking safe mounted into it and on the safe, there was a pushpin and a handle. Easily remembering what the numbers were, he pushed the correct buttons in the pushbutton and when he did he heard a bleep, indicating that it was correct and he then grabbed the handle and he opened the safe. Inside the safe were items that were very private to not only Martin but to Dianna as well. What was in the safe was top secret. There were documents clustered in folders and journals that were very important to Martin and Dianna and if anyone found these it would be bad news for the both of them.

Not only were there documents and journals but a rectangular and carved out box was in there, along with Martin's necklace, and the orphan's necklace as well. He wasn't intending on letting the orphan get her necklace back and he would make sure of it. He would make sure that she never found it.

He also would make sure that she wouldn't find out the _truth._

Martin grabbed his necklace and he slipped it around his neck and he then flew to the ground and he had to steady himself because he was still weak from being electrocuted by the orphan. However, he was still surprised by what she did and he didn't think she could do what she did. The electricity… it was so powerful. He shook that thought away, however, and he would for sure make the orphan pay for what she did. He would also make sure that Chatty Bat and the runt got what they deserved as well.

Martin held the green pendent on his necklace and said: "Change me into a human."

The pendent started to grow a very green color and it surrounded Martin and as it did, he was growing and changing from his bat form to his human form. The glow eventually faded and Martin was then back in his human form. If anyone saw him they would probably think that he looked rich because he was wearing a fancy looking black suit. He still had the fake band around his forearm and even though it was an allusion he really didn't like it but as soon as he got the girl would get rid of it. He dusted himself a little bit and then he reached into the safe and he pulled out the handcrafted box and he placed it on the dresser. He opened the box and inside of it there were separate square holes and in each of the holes there contained sealed chemistry bottles. These bottles were used for what Martin and Dianna did.

Harvesting magic from other witches and wizards.

However, there was only one bottle that had magic from one witch he harvested from but it was enough to replenish his strength. He would need more magic from other wizards and witches but that would have to wait. Right now, he needed his strength back.

He took the bottle out of its compartment and then he took the cap off of it and he placed it on the dresser and then he drank the magic. As he drank it the magic could be seen going down his throat like he was swallowing a star and then he started to glow and as he did he could feel his strength returning and he could feel the scratches and dried blood on his face disappearing and he could no longer feel them anymore. After a few more seconds the glowing on Martin faded and he felt brand new.

Satisfied that he no longer felt weak, Martin went to his kitchen/living room and he went to a cabinet and opened it to get a Heineken beer. He easily plopped the cap off with his hand and he then downed some of the liquor. It felt good to drink some alcohol after its been some while.

He was then starting to think about where his wife and the brothers were, so he closed his eyes and tried to use a spell to see through Dianna's eyes and all he saw was blackness. He tried the brothers but he saw only blackness as well. Martin was confused as to why he was only seeing blackness but he knew he had to keep trying. He, after all, knew his wife well enough to know that she can take care of herself. He really didn't care, however, if the brothers could or not.

Martin then started to think about something else and he walked back into his bedroom with his booze and he took a sip of it as he did so and he went to his dresser. He opened a drawer and he removed some shirts from it and at the bottom of the drawer laid his burner phone. Using one of the more advanced phones was too much of a risk because then the Spell Organization would've easily have tracked him and Dianna down and arrest them.

He pulled out his burner phone and he opened it and he started to call someone in particular. The phone started to ring and as it rang, Martin took the time to drink his beer. He then heard someone pick up. "Steve speaking."

"Steve, it's Martin," Martin said.

"Oh, boss, I haven't heard from you for a while. Did you get the girl?"

Martin wished he had the orphan and he clenched his hand into a fist but he remained as calm as he could. "No. The little bitch managed to slip out of my hands. I don't know where she is now but I'm going to find her. Dianna is missing but it won't be hard for me to find her like it won't be to find the orphan. Are they still locked up?"

"Yup, it's still magic proofed just how you left it."

"And the dog? Is that mutt rid of?"

"Just as you wanted, we got rid of it."

Martin grinned. "Good."

"Boss, when are you and Dianna going to be back? We still need to figure out we need to do for your _Plan._"

Martin rolled his eyes as his grin dropped. "We'll be back when we get the orphan and then we will go over the Plan. As for now, your job is to still keep an eye on them and make sure they don't escape and if they do I will have you fired, and not the way a normal human being would have someone fired. Do I make myself clear?"

There was silence on the other end of the line but after the silence for a few seconds, Steve then said: "Yes, sir…"

"Do not disappoint me, Steve." Martin then hung up.

He then finished his beer and then threw it in a trash can. He then started to put everything back in its place but before he did he commanded his pendant on his necklace to transform him back into a Vampyryum bat and then he put his necklace back in the safe. After he put everything back in its rightful place, Martin immediately transported himself back to where he and the others last were and while he did he didn't know that a colony of bats of different types were flying back from their hunting back to his house to roost again.

And all these bats had one thing in common: they all had silver bands on their forearms.

* * *

They were now in the city. After they left the house they informed the council on what they saw and some important information as far as they knew and the council advised them to keep on doing what they were doing. It was very hard for Raymond to keep using his past spell to try and see where Kassidy was with her friends as he was now a great gray owl standing on a building with Stella-which she was now a barn owl-and Sylvester. They were near a cathedral and Raymond was doing some fast-forwarding. They were seeing a lot of shocking things happening as Kassidy and her friends were traveling. One thing they liked when Raymond was doing his past spell was that Kassidy and her friends allowed another bat to accompany them and now she was a friend to them.

As Raymond was fast-forwarding seeing past people and animals doing their things, he saw Kassidy and her friends with an old and blind looking bat. They were talking to him and they had some interest in their eyes as they were talking to the old bat but then it slowly and gradually turned from an interest to worrisome on their faces as the old bat was telling them something. They then saw the friends thank the old bat and then they went to departure from the cathedral.

Raymond looked at Sylvester. "Take all the time you need to catch up with us."

Sylvester nodded and Raymond and Stella then flew off the building they were on and followed Kassidy and her friends and even though they weren't actually following them they were trying to keep up with them. As they were following them, Raymond and Stella saw two owls flying after two of Kassidy's friends and those two friends didn't look as though those owls were worrying them but luckily Kassidy used her magic to try and prevent the owls from trying to grab them and then the four of them flew as fast as they could and as they did, the owls chased them.

Raymond and his partners have been overhearing animals but mostly the owls that the Silverwings have been causing troubles and they were now wanted for a crime. Raymond was for certain that it had nothing to do with the Silverwings because he knew that it had to be the culprits.

They kept trying to keep up with the four friends and the owls and it led them into the woods. As they kept following them they saw the four friends fly into a knothole of a tree to try and escape from the owls and the owls were still trying to get them. But then out of nowhere, two giant bats grabbed the owls and then two other giant bats then killed the owls. Raymond and Stella were watching the scene horrified as they saw the four giant bats eating the owls. Raymond recognized two of them to be the culprits.

_Oh, no… _Raymond thought.

Raymond and Stella flew towards the scene and they landed near it and as they did, Sylvester appeared out of nowhere to join them and he was watching the scene horrified as well. Raymond used his hand to fast forward a little bit and he then stopped after Martin used his magic to make the dead owls disappear.

"Are we… too late?" Stella asked worriedly.

"I hope not," Raymond said. "For once, we might be able to save someone from those two but if we are… then the Spell Organization failed to save someone with magic once again. But if not then there's a chance we can save them."

Raymond looked at the two giant bats that were with the culprits and the three of them knew that whatever trick Martin had up his sleeve once again those two were bound to be in danger. Martin always found a loophole when it came to deals and that's what made him a snake.

"Should we inform the council?" Sylvester asked. "It might be wise to do so since we have more information about what's happening so far."

Raymond stared at the paused scene for a few more seconds and then he nodded. "Alright, let's call them."

* * *

**A/N- Another chapter down, wow! It's hard to believe I actually wrote 32 chapters for this story. Not sure how much I'll end up with but I'm guessing a lot. Hope that won't be a bother to any of you. Also, please do not correct me on the title chapters being one with the ellipses and one without it because I already know. For some reason, the one on the pop-down menu won't allow me to use the ellipses on there so please don't correct me on that mistake but anyways next chapter will be up soon and have a nice day. Later.**


	33. Jail Bats

**Chapter 33**

**Jail Bats**

* * *

_Darkness was everywhere… nothing could be seen, no one could be seen, no one could be heard, and no speck of light was even shown to cast a way. All that laid beneath and ahead of Kassidy was blackness and no matter how far she walked it continued to lead her to nowhere. Nothing joyful could be seen in this situation._

_Since Kassidy was in her bat form she used her sound vision as she continued to walk but as she did her sound vision brought her back nothing. The reason for that, she did not know. However, she kept her eyes and ears wide open just in case in a cautious way for she did not trust the surroundings that were before her._

_As she kept walking, hoping to find someone familiar, she then stopped suddenly when she noticed something at the corner of her eye. She slowly turned and she at first thought she was staring at someone and it turned out she was. _

_She was staring at herself. _

_Kassidy thought it was strange that she was looking at herself because she never saw any sort of mirror anywhere. She furrowed her brow confused and as she did her reflection did the same thing. She slowly lifted her hand towards her cheek and touched it and as she did her reflection did exactly as she did. She then lowered her hand slowly from her face as her reflection did._

_As she looked at her reflection she noticed something off with it. She squinted her eyes and her reflection did the same thing. As she stared at her reflection she then started to realize what was off with her reflection. It was her eyes, they weren't the ocean blue color; they were blood-shot red (not the sleepless kind of eyes but actually glowing red). Kassidy's eyes widened, however, her reflection's eyes didn't, and her reflection just stared back calmly. Whatever was happening at this moment it was sort of getting Kassidy freaked out and even though she could feel her hand shaking she tried to hide it._

"_What are you…?" Kassidy whispered._

_To Kassidy's shock, her reflection-or at least she thought it was-smiled in a way that was never like her own smile and the Kassidy with the red eyes that was standing before her started to chuckle. "I'm you Kass." The other Kassidy said and Kassidy's eyes widened more. "I'm the real you."_

_The other Kassidy then lifted from the ground and she flew at Kassidy at very fast and hard speed and before Kassidy could do anything, the other Kassidy rammed into her and they both collided to the ground with the other Kassidy pinning Kassidy and as she did, fire began to rise up from everywhere around them. Kassidy was confused as to what was going on and she tried to get the other Kassidy off of her but the other Kassidy only secured Kassidy to the ground more tightly._

"_W-What're you doing!?" Kassidy shouted at the other Kassidy._

"_What does it look like?" The other Kassidy said with a furious look on her face. "I'm fighting you so we can be what we were meant to be."_

_The other Kassidy then punched Kassidy to the face a few times and Kassidy tried to be as fast as she could to block them but the other Kassidy was much faster than her. Before the other Kassidy could punch any further, Kassidy managed to finally block a punch of the other Kassidy's and she then gave a punch back in return and she then used her feet to push the other Kassidy off of her while she didn't notice. _

_Kassidy quickly got up and she looked back at the other Kassidy and the other Kassidy had regained her balance before she could even hit the ground. The other Kassidy looked back at Kassidy and then the two Kassidys started to circle around each other as the burning hot fire was rising like they were in the pits of Hell. Seeing what was happening at this moment was just terrifying as Kassidy was staring at the other Kassidy. _

"_Meant to be?" Kassidy asked. "What're you talking about?!" Talking to the other Kassidy just felt weird but crazy at the same time to her._

"_You know exactly what I mean," the other Kassidy said. "We were born to be killers."_

_Kassidy shook her head and didn't want to believe what the other Kassidy was telling her. "No, I'm not a killer!"_

_The other Kassidy sneered. "Of course you are. You after all did kill Martin, you're deadly."_

_The other Kassidy then jumped at Kassidy and they rolled on the ground and as they did they fought ruthlessly towards each other, not even breaking a sweat even as the fire was around them. Fighting herself was not natural and Kassidy wanted this to stop but the other Kassidy didn't seem as though she wanted to stop fighting her. Or herself?_

_Before the other Kassidy could do anything to Kassidy, Kassidy quickly acted fast and made a fire barrier between her and the other Kassidy so she wouldn't touch her. The other Kassidy growled at Kassidy._

"_I'm not going to fight you any further," Kassidy said. "This isn't right!"_

_The other Kassidy swished her hand in the air and as she did the fire barrier vanquished and in a fast speed she jumped at Kassidy and she pinned her to-unexpectantly-a wall by using her arm on her chest and Kassidy yelled out in pain when the force felt real hard and excruciating. "I'll make you fight me!"_

"_You're not me!"_

"_I am, I'm what they say when they look at you." She then scratched Kassidy to the face really hard and that hard force made Kassidy hit the ground._

_Kassidy hissed as she held her scratched cheek with her hand but it didn't stop her from looking back at the other Kassidy as she walked towards her. "I won't believe it! I'm never gonna be a killer!"_

"_Tell that to Martin's corpse. Open up your eyes, do you not see the actual world in front of you? There are those out there that have judged you and have done you wrong! They deserve to be killed after what they said and did to you! This is your destiny to be a killer!"_

_Kassidy snarled having enough to hear from her. "Shut up!" Kassidy used her wind spell to blow the other Kassidy away from her and she hit a wall. Fire engulfed on Kassidy's body as she continued to snarl at the other Kassidy._

_The other Kassidy groaned but she then looked at Kassidy and smirked. "That's right, let it all out. You're this close of becoming your true self."_

_Kassidy stopped snarling and she was stunned as the fire on her body disappeared and she felt scared of what she did. She then realized that the other Kassidy was trying to get her furious so she would go violent and do things she would regret doing. She couldn't let the other Kassidy get to her._

_But then something occurred to her. This whole thing that was happening at this moment… it was a dream she was having. Kassidy wanted to wake up now. _

_She then saw the other Kassidy fly towards her very fast and Kassidy pressed the palms of her hands against her temples and she closed her eyes. She screamed in her head to wake up and she repeated it over and over again as she bared her teeth and then everything was dark once more..._

* * *

She shot open her eyes as she gasped and she sat up breathing hard. She was drenched in sweat but luckily she could feel some cold winds cooling her down. She saw that she was in a tree but she saw no signs of her friends. Even though she was glad that the dream was over, it didn't help the fact of what occurred in her dream.

The dreams were only getting worse and she hated these dreams so much. Ever since her parents died she barely had any sweet or innocent dreams to soothe her. She couldn't take them anymore and all she wanted right now was her parents more than anything. She wanted to feel her parents love and affection and their comforting words. She felt like crying like she would've when she was five but she held it in.

She couldn't get over the dream she had, those words the other Kassidy said… Kassidy cursed at the other Kassidy for even thinking that she could even get her to be a killer. She didn't want Martin to get killed and the thought of her killing someone was just gruesome. Did this now make her a monster? She only wanted to protect her friends but because of what she did, Martin was now dead. However, she couldn't get over how she managed to absorb a lot of electricity around and inside of herself and the way she used it to electrocute Martin… it felt powerful when she aimed the electricity towards Martin and she never in her life done something like this.

Kassidy buried her face in the palms of her hands and she tried to breathe. What did her friends think now? Thinking about this question only got Kassidy stressed more.

As she wasn't looking she then heard some flapping and it was coming from a bat. She looked up and she saw a bat fly in through the hole of the tree and he landed. The bat turned around and he was looking at Kassidy with his brown eyes and Kassidy saw that it was Holden. Holden had a beetle in his mouth and it was a nice plump one and it looked satisfyingly tasty.

Holden's eyes widened and he dropped the beetle from his mouth and the lifeless beetle crashed to the ground. To Kassidy's surprise, Holden smiled at her in relief. "Kass!"

Holden got to Kassidy and Kassidy's eyes widened when Holden embraced her. It was the first time that Holden ever hugged her and it felt strange. His hug felt tense and tight and Kassidy was now wondering if he was okay because it was not like him to hug her. Did he eat something to make him do something like this? However, Kassidy was glad to see Holden's face and so she let Holden hug her.

"Kass, we were so worried about you, you alright?"

"Y-Yeah," Kassidy said confused. "I should be asking you the same thing because you're right now hugging me."

Holden laughed and he looked back at Kassidy as he stopped hugging her. "I'm just so glad you're okay and it's good to hear you talk like your usual self."

Kassidy's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah, really, you're not only my tutor but you're my friend." Holden's happiness was then washed away with guiltiness as he continued to stare at Kassidy. "Hey, listen… I'm sorry for being a jerk to you. If only I would've listened…"

Kassidy sighed as she looked down sadly. "It's okay, Holden, you just thought that they could help us… I guess I was being a jerk as well." Kassidy looked back up at Holden. "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"Eh, I deserved it anyway. I mean for god's sake I was acting more rather than thinking and now this is what I get for trying to trust giant bats."

Out of Kassidy and Holden's surprise, Kassidy actually started to laugh. She forgot all about her dream she had and she couldn't stop laughing. She wished she could stop laughing but she couldn't find it in herself to contain her laughter.

Holden looked confused. "What?"

"You-" Kassidy continued to laugh. "You actually admitted it! You admitted that you acted more rather than thinking!" She then continued to laugh.

As Kassidy continued to laugh, Holden then started to chuckle and then it slowly started to turn into laughter. "Oh my god you're right! I actually did admit it!"

They both continued to laugh cheerfully. They were laughing so much that they were starting to feel aches form in their stomachs. Kassidy hated to admit it at this moment but it felt good to laugh once again.

After sometime of laughing they eventually calmed down and were wiping away tears of laughter. Kassidy's smile then disappeared and she looked down sadly once again. Why did she have to laugh when she knew her family was in danger? She felt guilty for having some fun and laughing here and there when she should be focusing on not only finding her family but the colony as well. Her emotions were everywhere and right now what she wanted more than anything was to find her family.

"Where's Shade and Marina?"

Holden was about to answer but as if they heard their names, Shade and Marina flew through the hole and landed inside the tree. "Right there." Holden said.

Shade and Marina's eyes widened and then they smiled in relief when they saw Kassidy. "Kass!" They said simultaneously and they immediately got to Kassidy and hugged her.

"Kass, you're okay," Shade said. "I'm so sorry, can you ever forgive me? I feel so bad for what happened."

Kassidy smirked at Shade and Marina. "Hey, what hasn't killed me yet has made me stronger and Shade, don't worry. I forgive you, you don't have to worry about that.

Shade looked up at Kassidy as he smiled weakly. "This is why I love having you as a friend."

Marina looked up at Kassidy with a worried expression on her face. "You feeling alright? You don't feel… hurt?"

Kassidy's smirk went down and she furrowed her brow confused. "What? What do you mean by that?"

"Don't you remember what happened last night? Your shoulder was bleeding and then when we were staring at Martin's body you suddenly passed out."

Last night… Kassidy almost forgot about what happened that night. She looked to the shoulder of where Martin bit her and she expected there to be some sort of bandage but to her surprise she saw nothing there. In fact, she saw no sign of a bite mark and all she saw was a shoulder in good condition. Kassidy rubbed her eyes and thought she was going insane but when she looked back at her shoulder again it was the same as it was. She knew for a fact that she didn't do anything to make her shoulder like the way it was and looking at it now she couldn't understand how it could've healed like that in one night.

She looked back at her friends. "Uh… what exactly did you guys use to treat my shoulder?" Holden, Shade, and Marina looked at each other and the way they were looking at each other, Kassidy wasn't liking this. "Should I be worried about this?"

Holden, Shade, and Marina looked back at Kassidy and Kassidy waited for one of them to answer. "We actually didn't treat your shoulder," Shade said. "We were going to but then… your wound closed up."

Kassidy blinked her eyes a few times. "What?"

Kassidy didn't understand what Shade meant, so he, Holden and Marina started to explain everything to her about the events that came after she passed out. As she was listening, Kassidy's eyes were widening as her friends kept talking and she didn't interrupt or ask any questions and all she could do was listen to what they had to say.

They then eventually stopped talking and Kassidy didn't know what to feel. Wound closed up on its own… blood stopped pouring on its own… and dried blood cleaned up on its own… It felt like a supernatural occurrence only she wasn't doing anything supernatural. She never had a wound close up on its own and hearing this come out of her friends' mouths it didn't feel real.

She placed her hand on her lips and thought about this. She was trying to remember if she read anything about wounds closing up on its own when it came to people that had magic like her. As she kept trying to think she couldn't think of any sources that said witches or wizards could have their injuries healed on their own. What she did know was that there were herbal remedies that could be used for not only injuries but also for potions and different types of food for diseases. Magic could also be used for injuries.

Kassidy began to rub her temples. "I don't know guys… I really don't know why what you described to me happened. Whatever the case may be I'm sure I'll find out soon enough." As Kassidy was looking up she noticed that Marina's leg had a leaf on it and she furrowed her brow confused. "Marina, what happened to your leg?"

Marina rubbed her arm nervously. "Dianna scratched it but it was nothing too severe."

When Marina mentioned Dianna, Kassidy's head shot up and she started to realize something as her eyes widened. "Wait a minute, what happened to Dianna, Goth, and Throbb? Are they trying to track us down?"

"No, it's okay, Kass," Shade said. "We don't have to worry about them anymore. Orestes is taking care of the situation."

Kassidy furrowed her brow confused. "Who's Orestes?"

"He's the owl that was with us," Holden said. "Long story short: we found Orestes in a trap and we helped him. Turns out he was the son of General Brutus and wouldn't you know it, Brutus was in the same forest we were and he had us arrested. To our surprise though, Orestes got us out of the situation we were in and helped us get to the towers of fire."

The owl Kassidy saw, she was surprised that the owl named Orestes was the son of General Brutus. Who knew that he would be the one to help them out? Once more, he even helped Kassidy before Martin could do anything to her and he even managed to not let the colony land at the next location. Kassidy smirked and already she liked Orestes, even if she really didn't know him that well.

"Guys, that's awesome," Kassidy said. "I can't believe you guys actually befriended General Brutus's son."

"Believe it," Marina said. "Oh, and before I forget he told us to tell you that that he said hi and that he hopes you'll be okay."

"Well I hope I get to see him again," Kassidy's smirk then went down. "How's he going to take care of the situation?"

"That's the thing, he said he was going to bring a few owl guards so he could get them arrested and he also said he was going to show the owl guards Martin's charred body," Shade said as he smiled. "Brutus might call off hunting down the colony once he sees them."

Kassidy couldn't believe what she was hearing and when she thought about it she felt relief because they would then have two problems off their hands. They would be free bats and they could continue on with their journey to find the colony peacefully.

"Do you really think he will?"

"He has to Kass," Holden said. "I mean what could possibly make Brutus think that he should continue trying to hunt down the colony?"

* * *

The pounding in his head was very painful and he could also hear it in his eardrums. It was two times he hit his head, the first time was when his forehead smashed into Throbb's forehead. The second time was when he shot through the air and hit a tree after he, Throbb, and Dianna managed to get unstuck from the hole they were stuck in at the human building they were at-thanks to Shade, Holden, and Marina-and when they did an explosion occurred causing him, Throbb, and Dianna to fly out of control. He felt furious after what those three did and he wanted to kill them.

Goth rubbed his head as he sat up and he was hissing in pain. First his throat, then his back, and now it was his head. He cursed to himself in Spanish and wanted the pounding to stop. Things only got worse for him when he felt a chilly breeze blow in his direction and as it did he felt himself shiver and he wrapped himself in his own wings to keep himself warm. How he wished he was back in the jungle letting the hot sun heat his back as he hunted some luscious meals.

"Goth?" Goth opened his eyes to the sound of Throbb's voice and when he looked up Throbb was staring down at him. "Goth, you're awake!"

The last thing Goth needed was to see Throbb glad to see him. Goth growled and he slowly got up as he continued to rub his head. "Maldita sea…" Goth stopped rubbing his head and he looked around him and he noticed that they weren't near the towers of fire anymore.

Instead he saw that they were in a… cell? Yes, there was no doubt about it; he was in a cell with not only Throbb but with Dianna as well. Dianna was standing near the cell door and she was looking outside of it with her eyes narrowed. Goth saw that there was no more of that blue stuff that got dumped on her by Shade and Holden. Goth assumed it all got washed away by the rain.

He couldn't believe it, once again he was held prisoner. This only infuriated him more. The first time was the humans, for the second time… who even got them in this cell?

"Señorita, where are we?" Goth asked.

Dianna didn't look at Goth and she kept looking out the cell door. "As you know we're in a cell, but what you don't know is that our cell is in owl territory."

Goth's fur bristled when Dianna said owls. How dare the owls capture him and imprison him? Not only did Goth hope Zotz would punish the humans but he also hoped that he would also punish the owls as well for putting him in a cell.

An aroma started to fill his nostrils and he immediately could tell it was owls. He walked over to the cell door and looked outside and Throbb looked out as well. Goth saw two owls guarding their cell and he wanted to reach out through his cell towards one of the owls and grab one of them so he could kill him but from the looks of his cell door there was no way his arm could reach out far enough to grab one of them. The owls weren't looking at them but Goth could see in their eyes that they looked a little tense to be guarding their cell.

Goth then realized that Martin wasn't with them. He looked back at Dianna. "Where's your marido?" He whispered so the guards wouldn't hear him.

Dianna furrowed her brow at him. "If I knew where he was I would've told you instantly." She whispered coldly. "He's out there somewhere though."

A screech then filled the sky and the three giant bats looked up to where they heard it and they saw three owls flying in their direction and in the matter of moments they landed near their cell. The owl in the middle looked at the owls guarding the giant bats' cell and they saluted to the owl in the middle. The owl in the middle looked really strong and strict and from what Goth could tell he must've been the leader.

But Goth then recognized one of the owls that was with the leader. It was the same owl that was with Shade, Holden, and Marina. Why he was with them, Goth didn't know but he didn't care. However, he could tell that the owlet looked a little skittish as he was looking at them.

The leader and the other owl on his right looked at the cell the giant bats were in and when they did their eyes widened in shock. Goth furrowed his brow at them and if he could he would've gladly of ripped out their hearts if he wasn't stuck in this cell. His grip he had on the cell door tightened in fury and they were lucky he hadn't gotten out.

"General… they're really giant bats," the owl on the right said.

The General got out of his shocked state and he went back to his strict looking expression. "So it seems they are." The General said with a deep voice. The General then walked towards the cell and as he did he waved off the guards that were guarding the cell and they stepped aside. The General looked at each of the giant bats inspecting them. "Which one of you is the leader here?"

Goth released his grip on the cell door and he was about to speak but Dianna cut him off. "Our leader is not with us and since our leader isn't here I'm now the leader for now."

Goth couldn't help but scowl at Dianna. At this moment he wanted to hit that bitch. First Martin proclaimed he was the leader and now since he wasn't here Dianna was now proclaiming herself as the leader. He then felt Throbb's hand on his shoulder and he bared his teeth at him and Throbb looked at little skittish when Goth did it and even though he was he shook his head as if reading what Goth was thinking about what he wanted to do to Dianna. He shoved Throbb's hand away from him with a growl and this made Throbb back away. When he looked at Dianna he saw that she was rolling her eyes.

The General had watched Goth and Throbb but he then looked back at Dianna. "So it looks like that the rumors about giant bats are proven to be true after all. You and your companions here are responsible for this whole bird killing spree."

Dianna smirked at the General. "Indeed we are General. I don't deny it and neither do they."

The General narrowed his eyes. "What sort of bats are you supposed to be?"

Dianna looked at her claws in one hand. "Oh, we're what we call Vampyrum Spectrum bats." Dianna then looked back at the General. "You could say that we're _viscous _bats."

"Well your viciousness and their viciousness was unacceptable in every way! You have caused too much trouble in these here woods and now you bloodthirsty thugs take it upon yourselves to try and kill my son, Orestes."

"Well then, maybe you shouldn't have let your son out of your sight and then maybe we wouldn't have tried to kill him." Dianna then chuckled as she looked at Orestes. "He's your son, huh? That's just sad that he grew up from inside an egg to look more like a chicken rather than an owl."

The General's eyes narrowed as his son that was named Orestes looked stunned by what Dianna said. Dianna kept grinning and Goth could see she was enjoying getting under the General's feathers. She and Martin had too much in common and Goth was starting to see why they were mates.

"What were your intentions of doing this reckless thing?" The General said, avoiding talking about his son.

"I wouldn't say it was reckless," Goth said and this made the General look at him. "It was only for our survival. It is how life works after all, not everyone lives long and we all have to eat something to keep living."

"But what you did was reckless!" The General shouted making Goth furrow his brow. "And because of your recklessness this is the reason why you are now locked up."

"We had other reasons for why we did what we did," Dianna said as she had her back to everyone. "Our leader brought us here to help her out with her _revenge._"

The three owls looked at Dianna confused and Goth and Throbb did as well. Goth heard Dianna loud and clear what she said but when she said _her _it didn't make sense to him. He thought she meant to say him, mainly her husband.

"Who is your leader?" Brutus asked.

Without the three owls looking, Goth and Throbb saw Dianna smile maliciously with an idea flickering in her eyes. The brothers looked at each other and neither of them still had any idea what Dianna was trying to do here.

Dianna turned back towards the General and got back close to the cell door. "She goes by the name Kassidy."

The three owls' eyes widened and the guards that were guarding the cell door looked shocked as well as they were listening in on the conversation. Orestes especially looked shocked as his beak was now hanging open and he looked from his Father to Dianna a few times. He even looked like he wanted to say something.

This was something that Goth would never have thought of but he could see what Dianna was trying to do. She was trying to hide her husband's identity and by doing so she made Kassidy the scapegoat. It made sense of why Dianna would make Kassidy the scapegoat, considering she was feared by a lot. A very slick move Dianna made.

"You mean the witch?" Brutus asked as he now looked furious.

"That's our leader," Dianna said. "She traveled to our home and she offered us a deal that if we helped her with her revenge on getting back at the owls she would give us something in return and it could be anything we wanted. She and the Silverwings have been plotting their revenge on you and the owls for some time now after you destroyed their summer roost. She's been leading not only us but the Silverwings as well so they could have their revenge. For any of the Silverwings that were against this whole plot she hypnotized them into doing whatever she wanted them to do, but she's been respected as a very devilish leader. She plans on doing much bigger things than that and it's only the beginning of her big plan."

Orestes flew over to his Father and landed near him. "Father, you can't believe her! She's lying! Kassidy would never do anything like that!"

Brutus was deep in thought in anger, ignoring Orestes. His talons were dug deep into the earth and from what Goth could see the General really despised Kassidy. "When I first saw that witch I knew she would bring destruction to the birds and the beasts. It won't be long until she and the Silverwings get what they want and if they're not stopped soon they will destroy this animal kingdom and I will not stand for it." Brutus looked at the owl on his right. "Atlas, I want many owls as you can get divided into different squadrons to find the witch and the Silverwings. The witch will not be going down without a fight and if that's what she wants then we'll give her a fight she'll never forget.

"If a squadron finds any Silverwings on their own I want them to capture them and get them to ask questions of what they know as far as the witch has planned. We need all the information we can get so we can be ready with an army when the time comes. However, we will need more than us owls. I also want you to gather the beasts for a meeting because we will need their help."

Orestes gasped but the General ignored him. Goth could see that the General was being serious about this and it was very easy to tell. He was starting to see why the runt and Chatty Bat hated the owls so much.

The owl named Atlas nodded. "Yes, sir." He then looked back at the giant bats. "What of the giant bats?"

The General looked back at the giant bats and thought. After a while of thinking he then nodded. "I will have King Boreal decide their fate since he will want to know about this. For now I want them kept locked up. I will make sure Hermes gets the message to the King." The General then looked at the two guards that were guarding the giant bats' cell. "Make sure they don't escape."

The owl guards nodded and they got back to their posts. The General and Atlas were about to fly away but Orestes got in front of them to stop them. "Father, this is insane! Are you really going to believe her!? Kassidy's not their leader, their leader is named Martin! I told you he has magic and he's-"

"Enough, Orestes!" Brutus flared his wings out as his voice boomed and it made Orestes flinch. "I will hear no more from you! The witch has done something to you and I don't know what it is she did but she's making you think random things! We will find a way to get rid of that spell the witch has put on you but until then you will not go anywhere by yourself and from here on out you will have an escort until the spell is rid of."

"I'm not-"

"End of discussion!"

Orestes was shocked but he then furrowed his brow. "Thank you for not listening to me once again!" With that, Orestes flew away furiously.

The General growled but he and Atlas then opened their wings and flew away. The giant bats watched as the owls flew away until they were out of sight and when they were out of sight, Dianna walked away from the cell door and laughed. Goth and Throbb looked at her as she continued to laugh and they both looked at her like she was nuts.

"What's so funny, señorita?" Throbb whispered.

Dianna calmed down and then she composed herself. "The General actually believed what I said," she whispered. "This is a good thing for us, because now no one will expect the actual truth."

Goth furrowed his brow. "It may be good for you but we're still stuck in this cell and now a King is going to be deciding our fates." He said trying to keep it low.

Dianna looked at Goth. "Oh, relax, we're getting out of here and Martin will find us."

Goth tilted his head confused. "How will he find us?"

Dianna smirked. "He always has his ways around things. Always."

* * *

**A/N- Well, another chapter down. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and now things are getting intense and that's pretty much all I have to say. Later.**


	34. The Lovely Beasts

**Chapter 34**

**The Lovely Beasts**

* * *

Some time had passed as the four individuals set on their way to try and catch up with the colony but before they left they snacked on whatever bugs they could find for their hunger until they could eat no more. Sure, they were stuffed but they needed to eat all that they could for the journey but the food was put aside for now until they needed it again. However, all these four could think about was how they would finally be safe from the owls' wrath and the colony would be safe. With the giant bats out of the way, it was safe to say that Orestes really saved them and that the owls might put this whole hunting down the Silverwings thing aside once they see that it was the giant bats that were causing the trouble and once they do they might leave the Silverwings be and let them continue on with their lives.

Even though they weren't for sure if Brutus would call off hunting down the Silverwings they made sure to be cautious of their surroundings just in case. But they had high hopes for this whole ordeal to end. It was after all the giant bats' fault and not theirs for causing trouble. Even though Kassidy, Holden, and Shade looked at the sun it wasn't as serious as a giant bat killing an owl for food.

The wind was picking up and it felt like it was getting colder every day and it wouldn't be long until snowflakes started to fall and then everything around them would eventually turn into a bleak snow environment. For Kassidy, she didn't have a problem with cold weather, even when it came to snow. She loved the snow. It was like looking at an enchanted world. The snow was like huge mounds of ice cream, when it came to ice and icicles it was like looking at crystals, and when it came to snowflakes it was like little specks of magic doing a spell.

Kassidy used to live in Ohio in America, of course, and it was no wonder as to why she wasn't bothered by the coldness. Even when she moved to Canada, to live with her cousins, her Aunt, and her Uncle with her dog she was still not bothered by the coldness. Even though Canada's cold weathers were much colder than the cold weathers in America. She had to admit though, that the weather in Ohio was strange at some points but it didn't kill her or anybody else for that matter.

As much as the whole giant bats being gone and not bothering them anymore was a good thing, Kassidy couldn't help but still have guiltiness in her for what she had done to Martin. Sure, he was dangerous like the other giant bats but it didn't help her in the fact that she had killed a wizard of a bat. The dream she had got to her and the other Kassidy in her dream… she hated her.

She hated herself at this moment.

All of which happened with Martin and the dream she had was practically eating and gnawing at her on the inside like bacteria and it made her cringe slightly but even though it did it infuriated her that this thought wouldn't go away. She took deep breaths and instead focused on helping her friends finding the colony.

"Any trace of your colony?" Marina asked.

They've been searching and there was no trace of them. Not even a clue as to where they might now be. No footprints, no fur, not even a whiff of their scent.

Shade breathed but said: "Not even an echo. They can't be far from here but we've gotta rest."

"Thank god," Holden said. "My arms are killing me and it's like they turned into noodles." Shade and Marina looked at Holden confused and Holden's face turned red realizing once again that what he was saying didn't make any amount of sense. "Uh… never mind."

Without responding to Holden, they all flew to a nearby tree and glided onto its tree branch until their feet were secured onto its hard bark. They were all taking breathers after a while of flying. "I don't mind flying on," Marina said but Kassidy could tell she looked out of breath as the rest of them were.

Kassidy had to admit, she wanted to continue on as well. It was better than standing around in one place. Yes, her arms were aching but she didn't want to stop. For better or worse she wanted to keep going.

"The Silverwings will be roosting too," Shade said with a smile as Marina and Holden hung upside-down. "We won't lose any time and Martin's dead while the other three are being taken care of by Orestes, so we won't have to worry about them."

Holden and Marina smiled as well but Kassidy couldn't bring herself to do it. Her ears flattened against her head as she looked down at the ground with her arms crossed still feeling guilty about what she did to Martin.

"Hey, Kass," Holden said but Kassidy didn't look at him. "What's with the face? Aren't you glad that those ruffians are out of the way?"

Kassidy sighed. "I would be… if I now know that I'm a murderer myself…"

"Kass, come on-"

"I frickin killed Martin, Holden. I didn't mean to kill him and now his body's probably getting eaten up by an animal all thanks to me… I'm pretty much now a murderer…"

"Kass, you're not a murderer," Shade said. "You were only trying to protect us and you did what you needed to do. That was self-defense, not murder."

Kassidy slid her hand in her red hair and thought about what Shade said. He did make a point but it still didn't help that she killed someone with magic. "I still killed someone though… If I'm not a murderer then what am I?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked to see that Holden was smiling weakly at her. "You remember what Frieda told the three of us alone?"

When Holden mentioned Frieda talking to her, Holden, and Shade she started to remember everything that happened on that day, before the owls burned down Tree Haven. It was quite an experience for her and the boys after what they've been taught and told by Frieda. She then nodded. "Yeah."

"She told Shade that he was curious when it comes to knowing things, she told me that I was a risk-taker when it comes to conversation, and then she told you that you were caring. Caring enough that you are willing to go as far as protect the ones that you know and care about and what happened yesterday proves my point. You pretty much saved us and without what you did we wouldn't be here today."

Kassidy's eyes widened in surprise by what Holden said and Shade and Marina looked pretty surprised by what he said as well. The more she thought about what Holden said the more she could see that he was pretty much right. Yesterday was insane but she started to feel better thanks to what Holden said. Maybe what she did was necessary and it would make sense like Shade said it was self-defense, not murder.

The stress of being a murderer died away and the dream she had died away as well like it was dust. She started to feel relief, her friends didn't see her as a murderer and she couldn't have asked for better friends than these three. In a way, they all did have one thing in common.

They were all different.

Kassidy smiled weakly at Holden, Shade, and Marina. "God even though we've had our arguments and disagreements, I'm lucky to have you guys as friends."

Holden laughed as he wrapped his arm around Kassidy's shoulder. "Couldn't have agreed more."

Marina swung upwards as she smiled. "You feel better, Kass?"

Kassidy laughed. "Does this give you my answer?"

They all laughed like good friends would and then they eventually settled down trying not to make too much of a scene. It was still good for them to laugh, though.

"Well, it's good to know that you're better," Marina said. "Because these two make a point even though they can sometimes be in their heads." Marin poked the side of Shade's head and Shade yelped and then rubbed it.

"Wha-hey," Shade said to Marina a little annoyed. "That's not entirely true!"

Holden got a little annoyed, however, Kassidy laughed again. "Yeah, Smalls is right… it's not true," Holden said.

Marina laughed as she ruffled Shade's hair. "Whatever you two say." Shade pulled away from Marina and his hair was now a wild mess and this made the girls laugh more as he fixed his hair.

Kassidy settled down and wiped away tears of laughter as she then composed herself as did Marina. "I think the colony is going to like you very much, Marina."

"You think so?" Marina asked.

"Oh, I think so too," Shade said enthusiastically. "You're gonna love the Silverwings, Marina. All of them: my mom, and… and Mercury, even Chinook."

"Oh, don't even get started with Chinook," Holden said. "Dude's got liabetes."

Kassidy rolled her eyes and she elbowed Holden in the gut and Holden grunted after she did so. He groaned as he held his stomach. "Well he's not the only one that has liabetes, you do too."

Holden was about to protest but Marina said: "And Frieda?"

Kassidy grinned and nodded. "Hell yeah, even Frieda. She's the kindest bat you'll ever meet."

Shade nodded in agreement. "Yeah, everyone loves her."

"Even the different ones, like us," Holden said.

After what they said, Marina looked even more excited to meet the colony. Kassidy would be too if she was her. She could tell even the boys would be too.

A thought did cross her mind though, what if they wouldn't get to the colony? What if things wouldn't go as planned? She shook her head and had to get that thought out of her mind. She couldn't let that get to her. Their main priority was to get to the colony and that's what they needed to do.

Finding a way to transform her and Holden back into humans would be a difficult task as would finding her family. She knew there had to be some way to transform them back into humans and finding her family but where to start she had no idea. It was about as difficult as trying to find a missing earring in the middle of the woods.

Kassidy didn't want to give up, she just couldn't. Her family needed her more than anything and wherever they were she would do everything she could to find them.

Everything.

* * *

It wasn't long when the beasts teamed up with the owls just so they could track down the Silverwings faster but things seemed to be serious at the moment when the beasts were all called to a meeting held by General Brutus himself. It was scary for them last time when Brutus held a meeting with them because things would've gone downhill for them if they didn't team up with the owls. It was either that or their lives and risking their lives just to not help Brutus would only jeopardize every beast.

Once again, Quacey was with Luger, Virtuoso, and Kiba and they were heading over to the meeting that Brutus was holding for the beasts and after hearing that they were required to be at the meeting they didn't argue and went. As they were walking, Luger, Virtuoso, and Kiba were talking to each other leaving Quacey in the back alone. Even though he was the beta he had no desire to get in on their conversation because he knew what they were talking about anyways. It was, of course, hunting. Quacey rolled his eyes every time that topic was brought up and he didn't like to talk about that stuff and be a show-off of a wolf. That was the opposite of Luger and this was mainly one of the reasons why he was one of the popular wolves in the pack.

To even think that his cousin was the alpha and the only reason why he was because Quacey's Uncle was the oldest sibling while his Father was the second oldest of the litter. Perhaps if his Father was the oldest things would've been different. To even think he could be alpha one day was impossible. The pack didn't give him any respect like they give Luger respect and the thing was that Quacey was much more mature than his cousin. He might not ever be the alpha but he didn't care.

"Quacey, would you hurry up?" Luger said annoyed seeing Quacey was a little far behind them. "We're probably missing the meeting because of you, slowpoke."

Kiba and Virtuoso chuckled at what Luger said and this made Quacey roll his eyes but he picked up his pace and as he did, he could hear beasts in the distance chattering. The good thing was that they haven't missed the meeting just yet. However, he did hear two loud voices arguing with each other and he could distinctly make out one of the beast's voices to be King Remus's. When they got close enough to the meeting without the beasts noticing them they took their places.

Brutus was at the same stump as last time with some owl guards and there were a lot of them this time and they looked like they were on the lookout for something. Something dangerous for that matter and Quacey couldn't tell what it was that they were on the lookout for but they certainly looked furious but scared about something that he could not tell what it was that was making them act like this. Something told him, however, that something was up.

"Silence!" General Brutus's voice boomed throughout the forest like thunder and this got every animals' attention. "I have called for this meeting because we are all in danger and it involves the Silverwings. We have a new problem, the Silverwings have a new leader and their leader is very, very dangerous. Any who have laid eyes on her can tell that she poses a threat to everyone. I have seen her and she is one of the hell spawns and this hell spawn is named Kassidy and she's a witch!" Brutus flared out his wings angrily.

The beasts started to gasp and they all looked frightened of what Brutus said. "This witch is not to be trusted and as all of you know there were rumors that giant bats were lurking around the forests, hunting for any birds and beasts. Some of you may have believed them, others of you may have not but what I'm about to tell you will change everything. They do exist."

The beasts gasped once again and the General continued: "I didn't believe they existed but I saw them, there were three of them and they were as tall as an owl, but they will pose no threat anymore and they will be punished for what they have done. However, these giant bats weren't just killing for food; they were killing to help the Silverwings with their vengeance. These giant bats are from a different land and how they got here in the first place is all because of the witch. The witch is plotting something much bigger than vengeance on the owls and I fear what it might be but if it is indeed true then she and the Silverwings must be stopped before they destroy this animal kingdom. How I know is because one of the giant bats told me so.

"Not only is this witch not to be trusted but the Silverwings can't as well. One of them even claimed that he and the witch were humans." Brutus looked closely at every animal. "Would any of you believe such a thing!?"

The animals were silent but they were now really scared of what Brutus told them. Mothers brought their children closer to them as if this so-called witch was here wanting to kill them and some were shaking at the thought of a witch. Witches were said to be myths but to think that there was an actual witch among the bats was but horrifying. How it was possible? Quacey didn't know but this sounded bad.

"So you say that there's a witch," King Remus spoke up for all to hear not looking frightened of what Brutus said, "which I would like to point out can't be possible. No one has ever seen a witch and they're myths. How is it possible that a bat is a witch and how would you know?"

General Brutus straightened his back and he narrowed his eyes. "How I know? I know because that witch has cast a spell on my son, Orestes." The beasts gasped once again and they were starting to freak out as they chatted loudly. "Silence!" The beasts quieted down and as soon as they did, Brutus continued: "As I said before: the witch and the Silverwings are to not be trusted and we must be ready for them because the witch wants a war. With our alliance, we can stop her and the Silverwings. The witch is a Silverwing, she has bloody red hair, blue eyes, wears this thing around her neck, and possesses drawings on her. She has two on her arm: one of a bat and one of a skull with roses growing out of it and she has one on her back and it has a wolf on it."

Quacey furrowed his brow confused at what Brutus said and described the Silverwing witch. That was not something anyone would hear everyday about any animal and it was especially not something to hear that one of the animals was a witch. It was beyond crazy and the thought of what she might do… Quacey did not want to even think about it. Magic was only told in stories but to think that magic actually existed was something that no one would ever thought would happen.

What caught Quacey's attention was the part where Brutus said that the witch had drawings on her. What animal would have drawings on them? The thing that sounded strange to Quacey was that Brutus said that one of the drawings on the witch was of a wolf. Why would she have one of the drawings on her to be a wolf?

As Quacey was thinking about this, he noticed Luger and the other two wolves looked interested in what Brutus said about the witch. He could tell because they were looking at one another with grins. They didn't seem to be worried about this witch that Brutus spoke of like the other beasts were.

Luger looked back at Brutus. "How very interesting," Luger whispered to the three wolves. "This is quite some pieces of information that he's saying."

"Working together is our only hope of stopping the witch and the Silverwings before they do much more damage than they've already done," Brutus continued. "However, that campaign requires cooperation. According to the articles of war, you beasts must elect a leader."

At that, Quacey noticed that Luger gave a grin at the mention of being a leader of the beasts. Quacey rolled his eyes. Of course, Luger wanted this and it was no surprise. Taking over things is what Luger liked to do.

"I Remus King of the rats-" and before Remus could continue what he said he looked at his brother and Romulus was trying to get his attention. "Yeah, and my brother Romulus also King of the rats, humbly accept this responsibility."

Quacey heard his cousin growl and he started to walk forward into the opening. "I think not, vermin." The other three followed behind and even though Quacey knew his cousin was going to do something like this he decided to stay quiet. "I will lead the beasts."

The beasts looked petrified to see the wolves and whimpered or backed away in hopes of not getting eaten by them. Quacey tried to ignore them for he wasn't in the mood to deal with this. He wasn't hungry at the moment, however, he could see that the other three wolves looked hungry to devour one of these little critters but they were smart enough to not do it at this moment when there was a meeting.

"You!?" Remus said in disbelief. "Never! My brother and I rule over hundreds, nay thousands, nay hundreds of thousands-"

"Yeah, yeah," Luger said not caring as he and the other three sat on their haunches near where Brutus was. "Wolves don't slave under tyrants. We find the pack more efficient."

Quacey looked up at Brutus and he could tell that he wasn't in a mood for this. He didn't blame the General for he thought that his cousin wanting to be the leader of the beasts was just ridiculous. He knew there was no way the other beasts would allow this because they were practically dangerous to the other beasts' eyes.

"I refuse to take orders from this barbarian!" Remus shouted as he pointed at Luger and looked at Brutus.

Luger looked at Remus furiously. "And I will not be led by these garbage sniffers!" Luger spat.

"Enough!" Brutus shouted loud and clear before things could get more heated up. "Neither of you rule." Brutus straightened his back and looked around him.

As Brutus was looking around him, Quacey noticed that Virtuoso was looking at something and this made him tilt his head in confusion. She nudged Luger to get his attention and she indicated to him what she was looking at. Luger looked and so did Quacey and Kiba and they were all looking at the white kermode bear herself, Ursa. Quacey didn't know what the point was at looking at her and he didn't know what Virtuoso was getting at here. They watched as Ursa was trying to grab some berries from a tree branch and while she did she managed to grab some, however after she did it resulted in her getting smacked in the head by the tree branch she grabbed the berries from and she yelped in pain as the berries and leaves plummeted to the ground from her mouth and she rubbed her head from the impact. Quacey winced at that and couldn't imagine how painful that felt.

Luger indicated with his head to the three of them with a grin and Quacey knew what this meant. They were going to have a private discussion. Quacey, Virtuoso, and Kiba gathered in a circle and Luger then said: "I think Virtuoso here has given us a great idea and I have a feeling this might be the best idea yet." He whispered.

Quacey furrowed his brow confused still not getting what Luger was getting at here. "What do you mean by that?" Quacey whispered.

Luger looked at Quacey then whispered: "I'll explain later." Luger got out of the circle and got back near Brutus and sat on his haunches once again and the other three sat on their haunches with Luger as well. "In the interest of your campaign, Brutus, I nominate Ursa the kermode bear."

Quacey looked at his cousin like he was crazy. _What?_

"Huh?" Ursa said surprised and all the beasts looked at her. "Say what?"

Quacey looked at Luger confused but his cousin only grinned at him. He didn't like the look on Luger's face which told him that he was planning something. But what exactly? He knew his cousin well enough to know that he had sneaky plans like this and he could tell that he had another one yet again.

Brutus looked deep in thought about this as he hummed to himself. "Why not?" This made Quacey look up at him surprised. "Being a one of a kind in this forest she can represent all beasts fairly."

It was true, there were barely any bears like Ursa around these forests, however, Quacey wasn't sure if Ursa was leader material. Quacey wasn't one to judge but he could see that she didn't like to get involved with this stuff. She seemed to be focused on other things.

"Huh?" Remus said but he then looked at Brutus with his brow furrowed. "Ursa's no leader!"

"I have to agree with the rat on this one. Look at me." Ursa used her paw to indicate herself. "I'm out of shape… I don't work well in groups… Did I mention that I-I have attention deficit disorder?" As if proving her point a butterfly flew by and she looked and pointed at it. "Look, a butterfly."

Quacey could tell that Ursa was lying just so she could get out of this and it was quite obvious. He cleared his throat and looked up at Brutus. "Sir, if she feels that she can't do this then maybe-"

Quacey felt a paw hit him in the back of the head and Quacey held in the yelp he was about to produce. He looked to see that Luger was the one that did it and Luger was glaring at him dangerously. Quacey glared back in return and this made the beasts whisper to each other as Brutus stared at them confused.

Luger chuckled and looked back at Brutus. "You'll have to excuse him he sometimes doesn't know what he's talking about and you could say that he's had _problems _before."

Quacey's eyes widened at his cousin. Brutus narrowed his eyes at the cousins as he hummed but he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He then looked at all the beasts. "All in favor of electing Ursa?"

Practically almost every beast raised their paw and Brutus even raised his wing. Seeing that Remus and Romulus haven't raised their paws yet, Luger snarled at them. Romulus smiled nervously and raised Remus's hand and his hand and Remus growled annoyed at his brother. The only one that hadn't raised his paw yet was Quacey as he wasn't sure about this. Everyone looked at Quacey to see if this was his vote or not. He looked at Ursa and she was staring at him and it looked like hope in her eyes. Hope that he wouldn't vote for her.

"Quacey…" Quacey heard his cousin say whispering annoyed as he grinned as if everything was normal but he could tell it was a grin of annoyance. "Raise your paw…"

Seeing that Quacey had no choice he sighed and he hesitantly raised his paw but it was then raised. Ursa no longer looked hopeful as she sighed and looked nervous as she was now the new leader of the beasts.

* * *

After the meeting, Quacey and the other three wolves were gathered in a circle for a meeting of their own. Luger looked pissed at Quacey for some reason and Quacey still couldn't quite understand why Luger wanted him to vote for Ursa that much. Whatever the reason, Luger looked like he wanted to rip his head off every time he looked at him.

"I think we can all agree that meeting was quite something for us," Luger said and Virtuoso and Kiba nodded in agreement as Quacey just furrowed his brow at his cousin. "But one thing's for certain, with Ursa in the picture as the leader of the beasts we can hunt as much as we want."

This made Virtuoso and Kiba grin at each other and Quacey's eyes widened when he realized why Luger wanted them to vote for Ursa as the new leader. It was so they could hunt for more than they usually do. Predators have to eat up to a certain amount and when they have their hunting was done. That law was around for many centuries and every predator had to respect that law. You can hunt for survival but keeping the population of prey at ease is important.

Quacey's mother always taught him that if they didn't have that law there wouldn't be enough prey for them to go around. Otherwise the wolves would've gone extinct a long time ago like some other animals that never lived on for certain reasons that neither he nor any other animal up until this day knows why. Some say it was because of the climate others say it was because of the humans. Whatever the reason those animals were long gone.

"We had to live by that law for a long time and what has that brought for us?" Luger said. "I'll tell you what: the death of starvation. We wolves had to suffer this because we don't get enough meat and that law has done nothing good for us. Well no more. It is time that we wolves hunt more as we should so we can have enough food in our stomachs so we don't die. More food means we won't perish. We are wolves and wolves will not go extinct! " Luger stamped his paw to the ground and Kiba and Virtuoso agreed with him.

Quacey sighed and shook his head. "Luger, this is crazy. Trying to be a leader is one thing but hunting over our limit while Ursa's in charge? That's crossing the line."

The three wolves glared at Quacey and Luger growled in annoyance and got in Quacey's face. "You listen here, cuz, I'm doing the wolves here a favor and the least you can be at this moment is grateful because we can now hunt more since Ursa's now the leader. If you weren't related to me, I wouldn't have given you the position as beta and you would've been stuck as an omega or worse…" Luger growled at the last sentence and Quacey just stared at his cousin furiously. Luger turned away from Quacey and looked at Kiba. "Go alert some of the other wolves." Luger then smiled. "They'll want to hear about this."

Kiba smiled as he nodded and as he turned to walk away he whispered in Quacey's ear: "One-eared freak." He then chuckled and this made Quacey growl as Kiba dashed away.

"I think it's time we did some hunting," Luger said and he turned away to go hunt.

"I agree," Virtuoso said and she and Luger chuckled as they ran off to do some hunting leaving Quacey behind.

Quacey stared at the two of them still furious as he couldn't believe what was happening. How could Luger do this? This would only make things worse. However, he realized that there was no point in talking to him out of this because he never listened to him anyway.

He sighed as his ear flattened on his head and he turned and walked away as his head was lowered. He couldn't do anything about this since he wasn't the alpha. He wasn't even the leader of the beasts. There was nothing he could do about this but he hoped something good would happen. Just one good thing.

* * *

**A/N- I'm back with another chapter and Quacey and the other beasts are back! Soon our four bat friends will be in one hell of a ride with the beasts! I have no idea why I called this chapter what it is but I thought it fit well. **


	35. The Bear and the Wolf

**Chapter 35**

**The Bear and the Wolf**

* * *

Time seemed to have passed by quickly as the sun was already down and the sky turned from a purple and yellow color to a starry night. This night felt peaceful as some would hope if they were afraid of the dark. This night felt calming as there was nothing to argue about and for now, there was nothing to worry about for these four friends.

They left after sundown and continued their flight to get to the colony. At one point they decided to go hunt and the only thing they all managed to find in the area they were in was mosquitos but there were plenty of them to fill upon. Of course, the taste wasn't bad but it wasn't good either but it was at least better than nothing, and after they did they continued on with the journey.

As they were flying, Kassidy was in her thoughts thinking about her family. She tried not to think about this too much as it would only affect too much stress and with the stress, she would lack concentration. It was hard to hide the fact from her friends that she was worried about her family and it was also hard to have a good time with them, after all, that's happened. It felt like they were in the Underground Railroad trying to escape slavery.

Every day it became harder and harder to conceal her worries about her family towards her friends and the fact that they were trapped somewhere at the moment felt unbearable to her. Who could blame her? Chances of anyone getting kidnapped especially if it was only one person, no one could tell and Kassidy did not think these turns of events would happen but they did. She's read books with people getting kidnapped and some of the stories that she read did not end well and the fact that her family could be next killed and told in a story felt excruciating.

If it did happen, Kassidy would never forgive that monster after what they've done. The thought of that person or persons angered Kassidy. She couldn't imagine what sort of torture and hell her family was going through at the moment. If she lost them, Kassidy wanted to…

Kassidy shook her head. Why did she have to think that? She kept repeating no in her head and hoped that _thought_ would go away. But it didn't, it came coming into her thoughts like one of her bad dreams. She cursed and tried to ignore that thought but it kept picking at her mind like a toothpick getting some food out of teeth as if it was saying to her to listen and that it was right.

She never told anyone this but she made a promise to her parents after the funeral back in Ohio. She remembered that exact day… it was raining and thundering and she was standing all by herself by her parents' graves wearing a black shirt, with a black blazer to go over it, with a pair of black dress pants, and some old black shoes. She also wore her usual choker and it was no surprise there.

Her dog, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins were waiting for her in a car they rented and they were willing to wait for her as long as it took. Her Aunt and Uncle managed to make the funeral for her parents one that no one would forget and even though it was a long flight for them and her cousins from Canada to Ohio they didn't fuss. They knew how her parents meant to her. The funeral was heartbreaking and the funeral crushed Kassidy and it took everything within her to not cry and even though the salty tears wanted to spill she managed to hold them back.

She was kneeling next to her parents' graves as she was drenched in the cold rain. Her Aunt offered her an umbrella but Kassidy told her she didn't want one because she felt like she didn't deserve an umbrella. Her Aunt tried to object but Kassidy told her that it was her call and not hers. Her Aunt didn't say anything further and simply told her okay and walked away from Kassidy to the rented car with the others waiting.

Kassidy had her reasons as to why she felt she didn't deserve an umbrella. She felt like it was her fault her parents died. If only she wasn't frozen in place as everything was happening beforehand then maybe, just maybe her parents could've been okay, but she just sat in her seat with shock and didn't do anything. She felt guilty.

She looked at her parents' graves and told them that she was sorry that she couldn't save them in time and wished she had. She told them how it felt quiet without them and how depressing it was going to be that she was never going to see them again. She was never going to see their faces when she had her graduations at high school and college, when she got married, had her first child… she was never going to see their faces again throughout her years.

She then told them that even though she couldn't save them she promised them that she wouldn't make the same mistake again with the ones she loved deeply. She promised them she would do everything in her power to protect her loved ones no matter the cost. She would be the protector.

She couldn't make the same mistake again.

Kassidy didn't get much sleep last day but she kept on flying with her friends with no stop unless they agreed they would. She once again had a daymare and it was once again the car crash she was in with her parents. She loathed that dream so much now.

As the four of them were flying, Kassidy started to pick up on some conversation ahead of them. It was soft at first but it then turned into a very loud and clear conversation. She then started to notice a cream-colored rabbit, a brown looking raccoon, and two black bears with one of them being an adult while the other was a cub. Not wanting to take any chances, the four of them swooped down and flew inside a hole in a tree branch big enough for them.

As soon as they crammed inside the tree branch they started to eavesdrop on the animals outside through a hole a little higher up than them. "Why can't the wolves stay up in the mountains where they belong?" One of the animals asked.

"They're supposed to be hunting for the Silverwings, not eating all of us," another animal said.

Kassidy's eyes widened and so did Holden's as Shade gasped and Marina covered her mouth. Kassidy had hoped that they would be safe and sound without the worries of anyone hunting down them or the other Silverwings but not only were the owls trying to hunt them down but the beasts were trying to hunt them down as well. But why? Brutus and the other owls had to have seen the giant bats and call off the hunt of finding the Silverwings but the hunt was still on? What could make the owls think that the Silverwings were still guilty of a crime they didn't commit?

"This is Ursa's fault," the first voice said. "She's the one in charge."

"Well I'm not raising my cub here," another voice said, and then the four of them heard the cub they all saw making playful noises.

As they were listening, Kassidy wanted to try something. It was something in between easy and difficult but she was willing to try it. She breathed and lifted her hands to the bark of the tree branch as her friends looked at her confused. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, imagining a hole in front of her like a window only on the other side there would be no signs of a big hole made. She never tried to do this spell but it looked simple enough for her to try without mere frustration. She closed her eyes and concentrated the best she could, trying not to think of anything else.

Then, to her surprise, the palms of her hands glowed a white light and her friends gasped. She ignored them and then she guided her hands away from each other on the bark and as she did, she started to slowly see the outside world and her friends were staring at what was happening with their jaws dropped. Kassidy didn't think that it'd be that easy to do this spell, considering it was in between the easy and hard spells. It kind of frustrated her that now a spell that was sort of hard was working for her and she's never even used it. Why couldn't some of the other spells do the same thing for her?

She commanded the white glow in her hands to die away and it did so as soon as she commanded. She noticed her friends staring at what she did still shocked and so she looked at her work and outside she could see the Mother black bear playing with her cub and the cub looked like he was having fun and the rabbit and raccoon watched it while smiling. Kassidy thought that this moment right here with the cub and the Mother looked pretty cute and sweet. She wanted to smile at this but she couldn't bring herself to do so after what these three were talking about.

The cub then got on his Mother after the playing was over and the Mother looked back at the rabbit and the raccoon. "We need to prepare for hibernation. It'll be safer in the eastern valley."

The rabbit and the raccoon looked at her in shock and gasped. "You're crossing the humans' road?" The raccoon said.

"What about their metal machines?" The rabbit said as she lowered her ears against her head in fear. "You might get killed…"

The Mother bear caressed her cub's back gently as she held him. "We will get killed if we stay. We won't be coming back until the Silverwings and their witch leader are brought to justice."

Kassidy's eyes widened even further than before and she gasped. _W-What?_

She noticed her friends were looking at her. She pinched herself and thought maybe she was way too tired from lack of sleep and she was hearing things. Sadly no matter how hard she pinched she knew she wasn't hearing things. She heard the words from the black bear loud and clear.

She couldn't bring herself to move at all. She just couldn't. Why would they say that she was the leader of the Silverwings? But that's when it hit her. She got out of her shocked state and could feel herself clenching her fists and teeth together in anger and she could hear herself growling.

"Those crooks," she said as quietly as she could in anger.

"What?" Marina whispered.

Kassidy looked at her friends. "Dianna, Goth, and Throbb, they must've told Brutus a fake story and that must be why we're still getting hunted down by them." Kassidy cursed at them under her breath. "They must've told him some very good lies because now apparently I'm 'the leader'"-she said with air quotes, "of the colony. They're lucky they ain't here at this moment because if they were I would've beaten the everlasting shit out of them!" She tried to stay quiet and hoped no one else heard her besides her friends.

The fire inside slowly began to form and realizing this she did her breathing technique and tried to calm down, not wanting to keep getting angrier. This did piss her off and she wanted to punch a hole through the tree branch.

"Kass, calm down," Marina whispered as Kassidy was doing her breathing technique. "I'm about as angry as you are that it didn't work out the way we wanted it to but you have to stay calm and breathe."

Kassidy sighed as she began to rub her temples. "I know… I know…"

"I can't believe the Silverwings are still the most wanted at this moment," Holden whispered. "The owls should've stopped the hunt for them but it's still going on and this time these guys are involved."

"I know," Shade whispered. "This isn't fair… It wasn't the Silverwings who killed the owls, it was giant bats. Kass shouldn't even be the one to blame and how could anyone think she could be the leader of the colony?"

Kassidy rolled her eyes. "I can only guess what it might be and it's quite obvious." She used her hands to gesture at herself.

Holden crossed his arms across his chest. "What're we going to do now guys? We're still not safe out here."

"There might be something we can do," Shade said.

"And what can we do, camouflage in the forest, and hope we don't get caught?" Holden said mordantly.

Shade furrowed his brow and looked at Holden as if he told them a stupid joke. "What? No. What I was trying to say is that we need to find this Ursa."

"How can we find her though?" Kassidy said. "We don't even know where to start."

Marina all the sudden sneezed and when she did all of them started to hear growling and it started to shake in their hiding place and they gasped in shock.

Holden looked at Marina. "Tell me that was just your sneeze."

It started to shake more around them and Marina looked at Holden. "Hate to say it but it's not."

It shook more and then they started to fall forward like they were in an earthquake and they screamed. They heard crashing and before they could do anything else, the tree branch they were in started to roll out of control and they did the best they could to not get themselves hurt as they were trying to hold onto something like they were in an amusement park ride. They hit their bodies against the wood whenever the branch hit something and it was out of control.

The tree branch all of a sudden came to a stop and when it did, the four of them were on the ground groaning from the hard impacts they had. They were all trying to get up as they continued to groan.

Holden cursed. "What the hell was-" Holden's eyes widened at something and he then screamed.

The other three looked to what Holden screamed at and when they did they saw a muzzle of a wolf near a hole of the tree branch and it was snarling. They heard more snarling and they looked to another hole to see another wolf muzzle snarling as drool came down from the mouth. Holden was shaking and he, Shade, and Marina were frightened of what they were seeing. They heard something up above them and they all looked up and yelped when they saw a paw scratching at a hole up above them.

Then to add up to more how frightened Kassidy's friends were, they heard howling.

Kassidy couldn't believe she was seeing wolves in front of her very eyes, one of her favorite animals. She wasn't scared of this but she was amazed that she was seeing wolves in front of her but she wasn't showing it. Not in a time like this.

"So this is what the owls are so worked up about," the four of them looked to one of the wolves and they saw a yellow eye of his staring at them, "tiny flying mice."

Kassidy's eyes widened but she furrowed her brow at the fleabag and bared her teeth at him. She didn't know if he could see her but what he said had her irate at this moment.

"H-Hey, let us go," Shade shouted trying to be brave.

"You have no right to hold us," Marina shouted trying to be brave as well.

"What's your hurry?" the wolf with the yellow eye staring at them asked. "Tell us where your colony's hiding, Silverwing."

Kassidy got in front of her friends and then she crossed her arms and stared at the wolf the hardest stare she could muster. "Yeah, nice try, whatever the hell your name is. If you think by intimidating us you're going to get an answer out of us just so you can report to the owls and have us killed _you _can forget about it and instead you and your other pals here can go do something else to pass the time, like chasing your tails."

The wolf looked like he was surprised to see Kassidy and she could tell even though he didn't show any signs. However, the wolf then grinned at her after a moment. "So… you must be the leader." The wolf was studying her and as he did he nodded slowly. "And I presume you must be a witch then from the looks of it." He then laughed. "No wonder why the owls are frightened by you, you do look like a devil."

Even though Kassidy wanted to yell at him that she wasn't one she managed to keep her cool. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Hey, Luger," another male wolf said that was looking at them through a hole that Kassidy's spell was cast under. "Check out the wolf on her back, I have no words to describe it but it's something."

The wolf Kassidy was speaking to that went by the name Luger looked away and she then heard him walk to where the other male wolf was and she could get a better look at him the closer he got. He looked at her back and as he did Kassidy could see not only the yellow eyes but also the symphony blue fur on him.

Holden shakily mumbled a curse word under his breath as he was trying to stay calm but the wolves noticed him in fear and Kassidy started to hear them talk about Holden rudely and she could hear them snickering as they were talking about Holden. Kassidy couldn't tell if Holden was listening or not but either way, Marina was trying to calm him down the best she could as Kassidy was narrowing her eyes at the wolves and so was Shade. Kassidy could also hear them whispering about something else but she couldn't catch on to what they were saying and neither could her friends. She assumed the only reason why they could hear them talking rudely about Holden was that they wanted them to hear what they had to say about him.

Luger then looked back at Kassidy as his grin reappeared. "I believe you don't want to give us the colony's location because you think we're going to have you killed, right?"

"Obviously," Kassidy firmly said.

"We don't want you killed," a she-wolf said and Kassidy's friends gasped as they all turned around to face her as she was staring at them. "We want you and your colony protected."

"We want you and your colony protected," Kassidy mocked. "Yeah, that is soooooooooo convincing."

"It's true," Luger said. "As long as your colony is free, we can do whatever we want: hunt, expand our territory, all in the name of war." He looked prideful about what he said.

"What has our world become?" Holden said.

"A mad one is what," Shade said as he glared at Luger.

"But the war is wrong," Marina said determined, ignoring what the boys said. "The Silverwings are innocent."

"Marina, I don't think they care if we're innocent or not," Kassidy said. "It's obvious they only care about food and territory."

"Your leader is right, Brightwing," the she-wolf said. "I'm surprised she hasn't punished you yet with one of her spells."

Kassidy's friends looked at the she-wolf shocked while Kassidy continued to narrow her eyes. When would a lot realize she's not evil? She wanted to yell at the top of her lungs and release all of her anger but at this moment it was pointless. Maybe another time though. Maybe.

"Shut that yapper of yours," Kassidy angrily said. "I'm not the leader of the colony and I don't use my spells for anything harmful like punishments to my friends. And I'm surprised _your_ leader lets you kill many defenseless animals."

"No need to use that tone, witch, but as of your surprise, our leader lets us kill as much as we want. She's our wise and fearless leader." The she-wolf then chuckled.

Something about this was off-putting and it was clear as day. The three beasts she and her friends heard talking don't like how Ursa's running things around here. Why wasn't she doing anything about this? Was she that careless of a leader not to deal with matters here? What kind of leader does that?

If Kassidy were the leader of the beasts she would've immediately took matters into her own hands. She knew to be a leader had chances and such but did she care? It depended on the situation.

She wanted to get to the bottom of this. Perhaps Ursa had a side to her story. Everyone has a side of the story. She would make that leader talk to her no matter what. All she needed though was information.

"So your leader's a wolf then?" Holden managed to spit out. "No wonder why a lot don't like you wolves, you guys smell and you're creepy to look at. Dogs at least make great companions, unlike you and these two."

"Holden," Marina said looking at Holden with her eyes widened.

"A wolf?" Luger said with his brow furrowed as he then growled and Holden backed away a little. "Don't insult me. You better watch what you say. You're lucky I'm keeping you alive otherwise I would've had you for a nice treat. As for Ursa, she's a kermode bear: the black bear with white fur."

"Yes, and she's special," the she-wolf said as Kassidy and her friends turned around to look at her as her friends gasped. "Ever so special." She then laughed and so did the other two.

Kassidy drummed her fingers on her arm as she stared at the she-wolf not impressed. She couldn't believe how these wolves act. Is that how every wolf is and she didn't know? Maybe other wolves did not act like this trio of wolves. Why wouldn't there be?

Then Luger looked directly at Kassidy with a grin. "We've been told that not only were you and the Silverwings going to have revenge on the owls but we've also been told that you were planning on something much bigger." Kassidy furrowed her brow confused and she looked at her friends but they did not know what he was talking about. "As we said: we want you protected, we won't tell anyone you're in this area, we'll keep this a secret. Whatever this big plan is you have going on we want in."

The four bat friends had their eyes widened and Kassidy then managed to say: "Huh?"

"You heard me right, we want in on your scheme. Now you don't have to decide right now, at least think about it. We want in because you have a wolf on your back and that could only mean one thing."

"And what would that be?"

"That we're meant to help you. The drawings do add up, with also the bat and skull with roses coming out of it on you I think it means that you and the Silverwings and we the wolves are meant to work together to take over the animal kingdom by slaying animals in war."

Neither of the four friends could bring themselves to speak. They could only stare at Luger wide-eyed. His theory about Kassidy's tattoos was wrong but Kassidy had to admit that what he said was beyond what she could've ever thought. Tattoos, drawings, and pictures can have meanings but Kassidy had her reasons for getting these tattoos and it wasn't because of what Luger said.

She got the bat and the wolf because she loved those animals. As for the skull and roses growing out of it, it represented life and death. To her, that tattoo meant that life is born but life has to die at some point.

The four friends then noticed the wolves were sniffing the air and were growling at something. They couldn't tell what they were looking at but Kassidy only had to guess that they were staring at something that had flesh on them, which would mean food.

Luger then looked back at Kassidy. "Think about it, witch. If you want to find me speak to a wolf you find in the area and tell them that you're looking for Luger the alpha."

With that, the trio of wolves dashed away to chase whatever it was they were looking at. The four friends looked at each other and then they started to make their way out of the branch-but before they did, Kassidy made sure to take the spell off she did on the tree branch wall-and when they went out one at a time they spread opened their wings and dove deep into the forest. As they were flying Kassidy had some anger inside her. She cursed and cursed so much that she didn't even notice the others looking at her.

"Kass, hey, don't worry about what Luger said," Shade said. "We know you're not what the others say about you."

"I know, but why in the hell do I always have to be the bad guy to a lot?" Kassidy said angrily. "Now they're thinking I'm going to take over the animal kingdom all because of what those giant bats said." Kassidy's teeth clenched together as fire started to slowly spread on her.

"Kass?" Marina said.

"This wouldn't have happened if they didn't tell that shitty ass lie to Brutus!" More fire enveloped around Kassidy. "I'm going to go find them and kill them!"

"Whoa, Kass, calm down," Holden said.

Kassidy's eyes widened and she breathed the best she could to calm down and as she did the fire started to slowly go away. _God damn it! _Kassidy shouted inside her head realizing she was getting out of control again.

She sighed as she didn't want to look at her friends. "I'm sorry… I just want this to be all over."

"We all do, Kass," Shade said, "and the only way we can do that is if we can somehow fix this. Ursa's our only option at this moment and finding her might be our only chance of redeeming ourselves and the Silverwings."

"Shade's right," Marina said. "We need to work together to find Ursa. Thanks to the wolves we now know what we need to look for."

"Weird when you think about how Ursa was described," Holden said. "The only bear I've ever heard about having white fur is a polar bear and they're only found in Antarctica."

"There are kermode bears that have black and white fur, Holden," Kassidy said forgetting about her anger. "There are 90% of black ones while there are 10% white ones. The white ones can also be referred to as the spirit bear."

"Now you're playing with me."

"I'm not even kidding, it's true."

"Holden, you do realize that whatever Kass says it's pretty much true," Marina said. "I mean look at how many times she was right."

"She does make a point," Shade said. "But we have to find Ursa and tell her everything. Who knows where she might be?"

"I'm sure we'll find her, Shade," Marina said. "We just have to keep our eyes and ears open."

* * *

The cold wind blew in his steel blue fur as he was lying under an old oak tree resting his head on his forelegs. Quacey wasn't tired but he didn't know what to do at this moment. He didn't want to hunt because he was at his limit and even though Luger said they could hunt as much as they want, Quacey didn't want to do that, it was still the law and he still abided by it, unlike the other wolves that continued to hunt. He didn't want to watch the other wolves hunt so he went somewhere where he wouldn't have to deal with them telling him he should hunt more and such. He didn't want to deal with their nonsense.

Not only were the wolves hunting too much bad but the angry chatter of the other beasts was pretty bad as well. A while ago while he was trying to find someplace quiet he could hear beasts talking a mile away and no matter how far or what direction he took he could still hear them talk angrily about the wolves. They were also angry at Ursa because she wasn't doing anything about this. Quacey knew that Ursa wasn't going to do anything about his cousin and the other wolves and even if he tried to tell her everything she still wouldn't do anything about it. It wasn't like he would tell her anyway. Tattle tailing was not worth it. He thought that he should let fate take action.

Out of nowhere, he heard his stomach grumble and he sighed annoyed. He wasn't going to hunt another beast today. Maybe later, though, he could eat some berries or maybe even go to a stream and get some fish. The law, after all, didn't say anything about an eating limit with fish.

As Quacey was trying to have some alone time he then heard something in front of him and he lifted his head to see a bush rustling. He waited to see what would happen because he knew for a fact that a lot of beasts weren't around here. He didn't feel fear and he waited for whatever would happen.

Then popping out of the bush was a raccoon and he looked like he was being chased down by something and Quacey probably guessed it was one of the wolves. He was out of breath as he was breathing in and out while shaking. Thinking he was safe he sighed in relief but when he turned around and saw Quacey he yelped and stood still in fear. It looked as if he forgot how to run.

Quacey sighed not wanting to deal with this and he stood up and walked away from the raccoon and as he did, the raccoon looked at him confused. Quacey decided to go find something to eat that didn't involve meat just to ease his mind off things (at least he hoped it would). He hoped though that he was making his Mother proud by following her very important advices.

As he was walking he started to hear some conversation towards the sky about a few feet from where he was walking. He looked up and he immediately stopped in his tracks when he saw four bats flying, two males and two females. He immediately crouched down so the wind wouldn't blow his scent towards them. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. One of them was a Brightwing and three of them were Silverwings.

What was even more shocking was that one of the Silverwings that was a female had bloody red hair, blue eyes, something around her neck, and drawings on her.

Just like the witch, Brutus described.

_Holy night moon, _Quacey thought. _That must be the witch._

"I can't believe it's that hard to find a bear with white fur," a Silverwing with iris purple fur said. "Actually, it should be because like Kassidy said there are about 1% of white kermode bears."

"I said 10%, not 1%, Holden," the witch said. "Besides we've only been out here for like ten minutes and already you're complaining."

"Feels like it's been hours."

"Ursa can't be far," a Silverwing with sky blue fur said. "She has to be around here somewhere."

Quacey's ears perked up at the mention of Ursa. What could they want with Ursa and why is it important that they find her? Quacey had to know for himself. They were after all who the owls were looking for. He didn't want to do anything just yet, he wanted to eavesdrop on them and see what they were doing and if they were going to do something dangerous.

He waited until they flew far enough away and when they did he started to follow them quietly through the forest being ever so quiet. He kept low but kept up at easy movements for he was trying not to make noise or get his scent picked up by these bats. As a wolf he was, he was raised to be ever so quiet when it came to hunting so it was a good thing he was mastered at soundless movements otherwise he wouldn't be able to spy on those bats.

* * *

Out of all things at this moment and Holden couldn't believe that they had to find Ursa the white kermode bear. Although it was necessary because they had to prove to at least one beast that they were innocent and that Kassidy wasn't the monster. He didn't want to find her but he knew that they had to, even if she sounded like a bad influence of a leader.

Being a lawbreaker and the most wanted at this moment was something Holden never would've pictured himself being in at this moment. Sure, he had his bad boy moments when he was human and he enjoyed it but this was something he was not enjoying, not because he almost had his moments of getting killed but also the fact that he and his friends were now pretty much criminals in the eyes of the owls all because of the giant bats. He honestly couldn't blame Kassidy's outburst she had a while ago, a lot have been treating her like she was just a demon.

When he first met Kassidy on the first day back to high school she looked intimidating to look at. No one dared to try and bully her but they didn't call her demon or devil like the animals here did. A lot of the students were nervous to try and make conversation with her and even his human friends didn't have the guts to try and talk to her. Holden honestly didn't know if he should be nervous around her or not. She never spoke to anyone at school and the only people she sometimes spoke to were the teachers.

He thought she wasn't worth talking to because she didn't seem to look like the type of person that liked anybody. He would usually see her reading books in class or doing her work but it was only a glance and then he'd either quietly talk to his friends or try to sneak his phone out during class and try and text his other friends or check social media. He sometimes got away with but other times he didn't.

It was no surprise that he was flunking in school and because of that Principal Chester had a meeting with him and his Dad. It was pretty shocking to him to hear that if he didn't pass he wouldn't be able to graduate high school. He did not want to get held back because if he did he'd be made fun of. Of course, his Dad yelled at him when they were at home and it was the longest argument they ever had and Holden ended up shouting at him that he hated him and he then stormed off to his room and slammed the door shut.

When the next day came after his argument with his Dad, Holden was in no good mood, even after Mr. Samson took his phone away from him. When class ended, Holden walked out and couldn't get his phone back after he served his detention. He wanted to ditch detention and get his phone back somehow so he could get ready and go to a party that Jason Dwight-one of his buddies-was throwing. He was trying to come up with a plan but what he didn't expect next was Kassidy walking up to him to try and talk to him.

She looked like she wasn't in a good mood either as she told him that she was going to be his tutor and that she needed his number so she could help him improve his grades. Holden couldn't believe that he already got himself a tutor and that got him pissed and he could tell that she didn't want to do this either. He asked her why she was going to be his tutor and she said because the Principal said he needed to improve his grades and because she had no choice. So with that, Holden and Kassidy exchanged numbers and they started to set up when they wanted to meet so they could get some of his work done. After that Holden went to serve his detention while Kassidy went home.

He didn't like her attitude as she was trying to help him and he thought for sure that he would never like or even get along with her. But surprisingly enough they're friendship started to slowly grow into a bond that seemed unconditional but amazingly enough, they started to become good friends. He even enjoyed having her as a friend even if they bickered a lot but they seemed to enjoy each other's company as they did with Shade and Marina.

And it was all because of this crazy-ass journey they've had so far.

Holden was already bored out of his mind as he was trying to help his friends find Ursa and so far they hadn't had any luck. He even tried to count how many trees they've flown by but that didn't help, plus he lost track of how many trees he counted like a couple of times already. While he looked bored, Kassidy, Shade, and Marina had determined looks on their faces to try and find Ursa.

As they were flying their shadows looked as if they were ninjas trying to sneak around and not get noticed by anyone and so far they didn't think anyone was watching them or even following them. If that was the case then it was a good thing because then they wouldn't be brought to the owls and who knows what the owls would want to do once they find them? Holden could only imagine some scenarios happening and that made him shudder.

"Guys, there," Marina shouted.

The three Silverwings looked to where Marina was looking and down towards the ground near a stream sleeping was a bear with white fur. They looked at each other and then dove down towards the bear. When they got close enough, Marina and Kassidy settled on a log while Shade and Holden landed in front of the bear. The bear was snoring and as she did, Holden could feel her warm breath breathing through his hair and fur. This bear had to be Ursa, it just had to be.

"Hey, you," Shade shouted trying to wake up the bear. "Wake up!"

The white bear mumbled in her sleep and rolled over onto her back. Holden sighed and looked at his friends. "Don't worry guys." Holden then cracked his fingers. "I got this. I'm an expert at waking people up, just ask my brother." Holden then cleared his throat and then he cupped his hands to his mouth as he looked back at Ursa. "YO FUR BAG WAKE UP, YOU GOT SPIDERS ALL OVER YOU!"

The white bear's eyes shot open in shock and she yelped and all the sudden she roared in panic and she then rolled around in the dirt panicking more as she was slapping at her fur and as she did, Holden and Shade yelped when she was about to crush them and they had to jump out of the way and behind the log, Kassidy and Marina were standing on and the girls joined them behind the log. They looked over to see Ursa still freaking out as she was rolling on the ground and slapping her fur.

"Get them off! Get them off," Ursa was shouting.

"Nice move, Holden," Kassidy contemptuously said as she scowled at Holden. "You're lucky you and Shade didn't get smashed and turned into pancakes."

"Well, it woke her up didn't it?" Holden said.

"You do stuff like that all the time with your brother?" Shade said.

"Sometimes, and it gets a good laugh out of me."

"Guys, we still need to talk to Ursa, remember?" Marina said. She then looked back at Ursa who was still thinking she had spiders all over her. "Ursa, it's okay you don't have spiders all over you!"

"Huh?" Ursa stopped rolling around and slapping at her fur and she stood up slowly and she slowly looked over the log at the four friends and when she did her eyes widened in shock.

Holden was trying to hold in the laughter of seeing Ursa freaking out but he couldn't hold it for long and he started to burst out laughing. "Oh, my god!" He continued to laugh as Ursa was blinking her eyes still shocked at the four of them. "I can't believe she fell for it! That was priceless!" Holden dropped to the ground on his stomach and continued to laugh as he pounded his fist on the ground and as he did he didn't notice Ursa walking away.

"Holden, will you stop it?" Marina said annoyed. "You're being ridiculous."

Holden yelped all a sudden when he felt someone grab his arm and pull him up. He looked to see Kassidy furrowing her brow at him and she then punched him to the arm and when she did, Holden thought it felt like a rock hitting him. "Ow!"

"Quit acting like that," Kassidy said. "We have a bear to talk to, not make fun of."

Holden held his hands up. "Alright, alright, sorry."

"She's at least not gone," Shade said and he then pointed at something. "She's just dunking her head in the water."

Holden looked and saw that Shade was right. She was in the stream and she had her head in the water and she then got it out and breathed for air as she shook her head. "This is not happening, not happening…" The white bear said and the four friends looked at each other and then they flew off the ground and made their way towards her. "This can't be happening…"

The four friends then landed near where Ursa was. "Uh… Ursa?" Shade said.

Ursa yelped surprised and she looked at the four of them and her eyes widened once again in shock. "You three… you're Silverwings!" She then immediately looked at Kassidy. "A-And you! You're… you're that witch I've heard about! Oh, not good… definitely not good… Look, I don't want trouble from you, so please just leave me alone and go away. You were all never here. You're just a dream, a bad, bad dream."

"Look, Ursa," Kassidy said as she crossed her arms. "Whatever rumors you heard about me are not true. The rumors about the Silverwings are not true as well."

"She's right," Shade said. "You have to tell Brutus the Silverwings are innocent."

Ursa scowled at Shade. "Oh, no, I'm not telling Brutus anything." She then looked nervous. "If I mention that I saw Silverwings and a witch he'll want details."

"So?" Kassidy said.

"You don't get it, witch, he'll want lots of details and then there'll be meetings… and plans and patrols and probably more meetings. _So _I don't want to deal with all that." Ursa then got out of the stream and started to walk away and before she did she looked over her shoulder back at the four friends. "You and your other friends leave me alone." She then walked away.

"Tch, you ain't walking away that easily," Kassidy said but for Ursa not to hear and she then took off from the ground and followed her.

Holden, Shade, and Marina looked at each other and then took off from the ground and followed Kassidy. As they were all following Ursa, Holden noticed her walking towards a cylinder and metal object that sort of looked like a barrel. When Ursa got close enough to it she used her nose to push up some sort of little door and when she did something spilled out of it and whatever it was it was pretty much food because Ursa began to chomp at it. Holden realized it must've been some sort of feeder, kind of like a bird feeder only it was a bear feeder.

The four friends then landed on top of the feeder and as they did, Ursa continued to eat the food from out of it. "What is that stuff?" Marina said and this made Ursa raise her head and when she did she smashed it against the opening to the feeder causing it to shake.

Ursa brought her paw to her head and she rubbed it in pain but in confusion. "Huh?" Ursa then looked to the four friends. "Are you still here?"

"Well we're not imaginary now are we?" Holden said.

Ursa narrowed her eyes at Holden and grumbled. "Imaginary or not you disrupted my nap by making me think spiders were on me!"

"So what are you going to do about it, eat me?"

"I have my own stash of food to eat, I don't eat bats."

"Did the humans bring you that food?" Shade asked.

Ursa looked at Shade. "Well of course."

"What is it?"

Ursa looked at the food and thought about it. "It's crunchy… fishy… berry stuff." She then smirked at Shade. "Who cares? It's delicious." She then scowled at the four of them. "But keep away, you can't have any."

Shade and Marina had their eyes widened and their jaws dropped but Holden and Kassidy were scowling at Ursa. Holden saw in the corner of his eye that Kassidy was rolling her eyes as she had her arms crossed. Holden honestly wanted to do the same thing but he managed to hold it back. He didn't know what to think of this bear so far but at this moment he didn't like her.

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on eating your rubbish anyway," Holden said.

Ursa looked at Holden scowling more. "Excuse me? This is not rubbish, this stuff was made for me and the humans worked hard to make it for me."

"That stuff you're referring to Ursa is called kibbles," Kassidy said and this made Ursa look at her in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Kibbles, humans make it for some animals, like cats, dogs, even animals that were taken in by humans for certain reasons. You were one of the animals that the humans took in and how do I know? For one: you're eating kibbles. Two: you've got a tag on your ear, which a human would place on any animal after they think they're ready to go. You were ready to go after they put that tag on your ear if I'm correct."

Holden, Shade, Marina, and even Ursa were looking at Kassidy with their eyes widened. Holden could not believe how incredibly observant and smart she was. He could see her being a detective of some sort. She looked like she could be good for that job.

He then remembered the tag that Kassidy mentioned on Ursa's ear and he looked and, of course, Kassidy was right. On Ursa's ear was an orange looking tag with some digits on there like the tags on cows and other animals he's seen before when he was little. To Holden, the tag looked more like an earring than it did a tag.

Ursa was blinking her eyes a few times but she then shook her head. "How do you know about humans? Wait a minute." Ursa looked like she wanted to say something but she then shook her head. "No… it can't be…"

"The humans actually put that tag on your ear?" Marina said.

Ursa got out of her thoughts but she then smirked at Marina. "Of course they did, _I'm _special. I'm a black bear who happens to be white."

Holden noticed that Kassidy was not looking at Ursa impressed and it was the same look of not impressed she gave when they were with the giant bats. Those events with the giant bats were pretty much hell for them. Holden, however, hoped that she wasn't going to go in rage at Ursa as she did with the giant bats. Her rage was mostly towards Martin though. At least they won't have to encounter them again.

Kassidy said something under her breath but Holden couldn't catch what it was she said but he guessed it was something sarcastic she said. He never knew what to expect from Kassidy, whether it'd be funny, sad, or what, he never knew what Kassidy would do next. He just never knew.

Marina raised her banded forearm towards Ursa. "The humans gave me this."

"That's not the same," Ursa said. "You're just a bat. There are millions of bats. I'm rare, that's why the humans worship me." She said it with pride.

Marina scowled at Ursa and Kassidy stared the hardest stare at Ursa she could muster. _Oh, no… _Holden thought.

"I'm sorry, worship?" Kassidy said. "No human worships animals like they're a god of some sort." She then pointed at Ursa. "The only reason why those humans gave you that tag was only because you needed rescuing. Bands and tags can be the same thing."

"And what makes you so sure of yourself, witch?" Ursa said as she and Kassidy stared at each other challengingly.

Holden all of a sudden jumped when Shade and Marina gasped in fear. He looked at them in confusion and he saw that they were staring at something in shock and this made Kassidy look at them in confusion as well. They looked to where Shade and Marina were looking at and they gasped as well in shock. Ursa looked confused and she looked to where all four of them were looking at as well.

Growling and hungry wolves were chasing a frightened raccoon deep into the woods. _Jesus, how much meat do these wolves need? _Holden thought.

"You're their leader, do something," Marina shouted at Ursa.

"Hey, I didn't ask to be elected," Ursa said as she looked back at the four friends with her brow furrowed. "It's not my problem."

Holden and his friends looked at Ursa in shock but in disgust as well, especially Kassidy. Kassidy then bared her teeth in anger and looked at Ursa very angrily. "Not your problem? What the hell does that mean?"

"Kass, let's just go," Shade said.

Kassidy held her hand up towards Shade. "Not now, Shade. I want to know exactly what she meant by that. So tell me what did you mean by that? Are you that careless to let some bastards kill other beasts as much as they want? You should be ashamed of yourself of what you're doing."

Ursa looked directly at Kassidy. "Ashamed? I never wanted to be the leader in the first place and because of them, I'm now the leader. The wolves are their problem, not mine."

Kassidy looked shocked but she still looked angry at Ursa but to Holden's surprise, she didn't yell at Ursa. Instead, she took one deep breath and then she spoke: "No, it's not their problem, it's _yours. _When there are things that need to be dealt with a leader must take action and make the toughest decisions of their lives. It can make a difference either way and no matter what there will always be supporters or non-supporters. Those beasts chose you, you know why? Because they had faith in you that you'll be a good leader, but you're breaking their faith in you because you can't take action as a true leader would, and seeing your true colors right now makes me sick to my stomach.

"A true leader wouldn't stand by and do nothing while others are suffering. A true leader would have the courage and determination in them to do whatever it takes to make sure everything is fixed so things can function properly. It's not about food or whether or not you're special, it's about setting an example to others that they can follow and teach their younglings for generations to come and the way you're setting an example to the beasts shows that you're nothing but a spoiled bear. So, you want to be spoiled? Go ahead, we're not going to stop you but just know this, Ursa: the next time you look at your reflection you ask yourself, 'Was this worth it? Was this all worth it?'"

Everyone was looking at her surprised, especially Ursa. Holden couldn't believe what came out of Kassidy's mouth. She said that out loud without stumbling with her words. She sounded like one of the greatest speakers that ever lived. Without saying another word, Kassidy lifted off from the feeder and flew off and Holden, Shade, and Marina followed her behind leaving Ursa still in a shocking state.

Marina flew up next to Kassidy and looked at her. "Kass, that speech… that was amazing."

"I just said what I wanted to say," Kassidy said not looking at anyone.

"Are you kidding?" Shade said. "Your speech is as good as Frieda's speeches. How'd you manage to speak to Ursa like that without stuttering?"

Holden saw Kassidy's eyes look down and her ears flattened in sadness. The three of them looked at her confused. "My parents taught me a few things about giving speeches… they always told me that when you make a speech, speak from the heart, not the mind."

Holden could see she didn't want to talk about this any further as she looked depressed when she mentioned her parents. He decided to change the subject. "Well, at least we tried with Ursa. I'll tell you this she's as bad as the wolves."

"Well, like Kass said," Shade said, "she's pretty much spoiled."

"Yeah, and there's pretty much no point in going back to her for help," Kassidy said as she looked at Holden, Shade, and Marina. "All we can do is try and get to the colony."

"Sounds good enough for me," Marina said and she then looked at Shade. "Care to lead the way?"

Shade smiled. "Don't mind if I do." Shade flew up front and together the four of them began to fly deep into the woods.

* * *

Only a short time went by and Kassidy still felt anger towards Ursa. She was lucky enough not to burst into flames but it didn't help the fact that Ursa didn't care about doing her job like she's supposed to, even if she didn't want to be the leader she had to do her job. Kassidy never wanted to lay eyes on that bear again, why even bother with her when she doesn't give a crap about anything besides herself?

So far, Kassidy was starting to hate almost everyone at this moment. She hated the ones that were selfish or cold-hearted towards her, her friends, and even the colony. She was starting to hate how this world was working for her but she knew that the world was how it was going to be either way. But she was having a deep hatred towards those that don't care about her, her friends, or the colony.

As she and her friends were flying they all started to hear something. They all looked at each other confused but the more Kassidy listened the more she could tell that it sounded like a cub calling for someone. As they got close to where they were hearing the noise they saw a cub all by itself looking distressed, scared and crying out for someone.

Kassidy gasped at this. "Oh, my god…"

The four of them circled above the cub as it continued to cry out his bear call. Kassidy could tell he was calling for his Mother. How she knew was because cubs couldn't be all by themselves out in the middle of nowhere without their Mother.

"Where's his Mother?" Marina asked.

"She must've been killed while crossing the humans' road," Shade said.

The cub continued to cry out for his Mother and as he did, Kassidy's heart ached for the cub. He was all alone out here without his Mother. She looked around her and nobody seemed to be in sight and Shade and Marina were trying to calm him down.

"Why won't he shut up?" Holden said as he was wincing.

"Holden, he just lost his Mother," Marina shouted at Holden. "He's just a cub!"

"Well, he's going to draw attention to the wolves if he doesn't stay quiet!"

"If you keep shouting like that he's never going to stay quiet," Shade shouted at Holden.

Kassidy looked back at the cub, paying no attention to her friends that were arguing and the cub was still crying out for his Mother. She sighed and swooped down towards him and when she did she then shushed him softly and then began to caress the cub on his head like she was a Mother herself. "It's alright, little one. It's alright."

The cub stopped crying out for his Mother and he looked at Kassidy with a look of interest and curiosity while her friends stopped arguing and looked at them in silence. Kassidy smiled weakly at the cub as she continued to caress the cub's head and when she did, the cub smiled at her and licked her face, and when he did, Kassidy laughed and her smile was big and all the sudden she started to glow. The cub looked at her in surprise and realizing that she was glowing, Kassidy's smile dropped and she stopped glowing, but she smiled back at the cub weakly and continued to caress his head and the cub let her.

"Kass, how are you so good at a lot of things?" Holden asked.

"Practice, lots, and lots of practice," Kassidy said not looking at either of her friends. "You hungry little guy?" The cub replied to Kassidy with cheerfulness in his voice and Kassidy chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."

Kassidy landed on the ground and when she did she breathed and raised her hand towards the ground and concentrated on making a red berry bush, imagining all that she could with the roots, the leaves, and the delicious and ripe looking red berries sprouting out. With easy concentration a little plant started to sprout and then it started to grow big and her friends watched with interest as Kassidy was working her magic easily. Of course, this spell was easy for her. The cub watched with amazement and in a matter of moments, Kassidy stopped growing the plant she wanted, and standing big and proud was an exquisite looking red berry bush.

The cub made an excited noise and started to eat the berries from the bush. Her friends got next to Kassidy and they watched the cub eat the berries with a smile. The cub looked so happy as he was eating berries and Kassidy felt like she did a good thing for him.

"That was sweet of you," Marina said.

"Does the cub even have a name?" Shade said.

"Who doesn't name their kids anything these days?" Holden asked.

"I'm asking because the cub can't speak yet as we can so we really don't know what his name is."

"We could try guessing," Marina said.

"That might take us forever though," Holden complained. "Can't we just name him and then find him someone that might take care of him?"

"Let's just try," Kassidy said. "He's still eating anyways, and we can try to guess his name and if we don't get any of them right after he's done eating then we can name him."

Holden sighed annoyed as he rolled his eyes but he then slid his hand in his fringe hair. "Why do I always have to be stuck in things like this?"

"I think because you pretty much don't have a choice."

"I'll try first," Shade said. "Uh… Lake?"

The cub didn't respond to the name Shade said.

"My turn," Marina said. "I'm gonna guess… Galen."

The cub didn't respond to the name Marina said.

"Alright, let me have at it," Holden said. "Berry."

The cub didn't respond to the name Holden said.

"What about… Lucky?" Kassidy said but the cub didn't respond to it.

They all started to guess names at a quick pace but every name they said the cub didn't respond to either of them and kept eating the berries. It was hard to try and guess the cub's name and they were starting to give up. It was hard to conjure up names in their minds when their minds were filled with other things.

"Artaois," Kassidy said and to all their surprise, the cub looked at her.

"Did he just respond to the name you said?" Marina said.

Kassidy tilted her head at the cub. "Is that your name, Artaois?"

The cub smiled at Kassidy and the friends started to smile as well. "It is his name," Shade said. "I didn't even think one of us would get it right but I'm glad we did."

Then, to the friends' confusion, the cub looked scared about something and he was shaking as he made a sound of fright. He was staring at something and he was backing away a little. "What's wrong, little guy?" Marina said.

"Holy shit," Holden shouted and he was staring at something in shock.

Kassidy, Shade, and Marina looked to where Holden and the cub were looking at, and what they saw shocked them. Walking towards them on all fours was a wolf. He had steel blue fur, blue-gray eyes, but what was strange about this wolf was that he only had one ear and it looked like it was torn off by something. Even if it was it didn't look like he was hurt from it, it looked like it was ripped at a different time ago.

This wolf was walking towards them with easy strides, not making a sound to make things shake like he was part of the earth. He wasn't looking at them hungrily or for that matter, dangerously. He was looking at them with a very calm and kind expression, even though he wasn't smiling. What did this wolf want? How did neither of them hear him and what did he want? Did Luger send him?

The wolf stopped a couple of feet away from them and when he did he sat down on his haunches and didn't attack either of them and even though he didn't, the four friends were ready to protect this cub. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt the cub," the wolf said with a sound that sounded soothing.

"And why should we believe you?" Shade said and he then pointed at the wolf. "You wolves are causing a lot of trouble and what do you even want?"

The wolf sighed and he looked tired but even though he did he was looking at all of them calmly. "I can understand why you don't want to trust me, Silverwing but I'm not one of the wolves hunting as much as I want. I'm a wolf with loyalty to the laws of the animal kingdom. I'm not going to hurt any of you."

The friends looked at each other and then they turned their attention back to the wolf. "Then what do you want?" Kassidy said getting suspicious. "Did Luger send you here to find me?"

The wolf looked at her confused as he tilted his head. "Luger, my cousin?"

The friends looked at the wolf shocked. "Wait, wait, wait," Holden said as he held his hands up towards the wolf. "Luger's your cousin?"

"He is and I'm the beta of his pack. You met my cousin?"

"Met him? He and two of his wolf buddies had us stuck in a branch for a while just so they could talk to us!"

"Wait what?"

"Yeah, they did," Shade said angrily. "Your cousin's a real jerk and so were the other two!"

The wolf looked lost in his thoughts and he sighed once again as he had his eyes towards the ground. "What did they say?"

The friends looked at each other surprised that the wolf didn't look like he wanted to lash out at them. So they hesitantly told the wolf everything but they gradually didn't hesitate as they told the wolf everything and as they did, the wolf listened carefully not questioning either of them. After they told the wolf everything, the wolf looked at them with some guilt as he sighed. The cub didn't look like he looked scared anymore but he kept watching carefully.

"I'm sorry about them," the wolf said. "The other two wolves you referred to were Kiba and Virtuoso." But the wolf then scowled as he stared at the sky and he cursed under his breath. "He never told me he wanted to expand territory. I thought he just wanted to hunt more but expanding territory? Luger, what the hell are you thinking?"

"You don't look like you like how Luger's running things in the pack," Marina said.

The wolf looked at Marina. "My cousin is foolish at times and doesn't even realize it and even though he can be the pack still follows him as a great leader with good intentions. Some of his intentions as you can imagine are not some of his best and whenever I try to warn him and give him some advice he never listens to a word I say."

"You're still the beta though and he should be listening to you if he appointed you that position," Kassidy said.

"True, but in this case, he barely listens to me, for that matter barely anyone in the pack listens to me."

"Why?" Shade asked.

"They don't see me as a beta. They only see me as the one-eared freak, as you probably have seen I only have one ear."

She couldn't believe what the wolf told them and to Kassidy that was pretty sad. His cousin and his pack barely listen to him all because of his ear. He didn't deserve that sort of treatment just like she and her friends didn't deserve bad treatment.

"How'd you lose it?" Marina asked curiously. "Did you use to have a tag on it as Ursa does?"

The wolf chuckled at Marina. "Good guess but no, I didn't have a tag on my ripped-off ear, I never did. My ear was ripped off by a coyote when I was just a pup."

Holden's eyes widened. "You got your ear ripped off by a coyote at a young age? Wow, you must've been scared after that happened."

"I was lucky enough to be alive that day if it weren't for my Mother, but yes, you could say I was scared after that happened for a few days but I managed to come around it."

They all looked at the wolf with interest and looked very impressed. Even Kassidy had to admit that after this wolf lost his ear at a young age he still kept going. That had to have taken a lot of guts. This made Kassidy wonder something, however.

"Why aren't you the alpha?" Kassidy asked. "You could be a better alpha than Luger."

"Sadly when it comes to being the alpha the eldest child of the alpha is the next one in line and with Luger being the oldest and only child of my Uncle he was appointed alpha. With me, I have no chances of being the alpha unless Luger doesn't have a mate and pups."

"Well even if you won't get the chance to be the alpha I think you'd be a great alpha."

"She's right," Shade said. "I think you have what it takes to be an alpha."

"Yeah, me too," Holden said.

"Same here," Marina said.

"Thank you for your kind words," the wolf said. "But even if I was alpha I don't think I have what it takes to be one."

"That's what every good person would say," Kassidy said, "and you're a very good guy and I can tell. I'd route for you and so would we." Her friends nodded in agreement.

The wolf looked surprised with what Kassidy said but he then smiled weakly. "Thank you, you're too kind. The owls say you and all the other Silverwings are a danger to us but I can't see anything dangerous about any of you. Please don't be mad at me but I've been following you four and I think it's safe to say that you're all trustworthy."

"You were following us?" Shade said.

"It was for a good reason but seeing and hearing for myself I think I can find all of you and the Silverwings innocent."

The friends looked surprised but they then smiled at the wolf and even the cub smiled up at the wolf. Kassidy felt grateful that at least one beast could see that they were innocent. At least she still has a love for wolves. She, however, wished that a lot could be like this wolf. He had kindness in him and loyalty.

"Thanks, uh… I'm sorry," Shade said looking embarrassed. "We didn't catch your name."

The wolf still had that warm smile. "My name is Quacey, young one."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Shade," he then gestured to Kassidy and Holden. "This is Kassidy and Holden." He then gestured to Marina. "And that's Marina."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Hey, guys?" Holden said and everyone looked at him. "I hate to break this chat but we still need to figure out what to do with him." Holden pointed at the cub and the cub looked at everyone not sure what to do.

"Well he can't go with Quacey because his pack will likely kill him," Marina said.

"I know," Shade said. "We can take him to Ursa!"

Kassidy, Holden, and Marina looked at Shade like he was crazy. "Shade, did you hit your head hard on something or what?" Kassidy said.

"I'm being serious, Kass," Shade said. "Ursa might be able to do it."

Kassidy crossed her arms with her brow furrowed. "Ursa's not going to take care of him. You saw how she can be and the only thing that she wants to take care of is herself."

"I'm going to have to agree with your friend on this one," Quacey said and he then looked at Kassidy. "However, try not to be too hard on her. She's been through a lot like most of us had, I'm sure she'll come around sometime soon."

Kassidy had no idea how he can be so calm, but he at least wasn't like Luger. She sighed and then looked at the cub and caressed his head and as she did, the cub licked her face once again. "I just want him to be somewhere safe."

"Then let's try Ursa," Shade said, "that way we can get it over with and if she doesn't accept then we'll try someone else."

Kassidy thought about it and she looked at the cub's innocent eyes. All she wanted to do was protect him like her life depended on it. She wished that they could take him with them but that would be difficult to do and they couldn't endanger the cub's life.

She then looked back at Shade. "Fine, but once we're close enough to where I can see her I'm not going an inch near her."

Shade sighed then nodded. "Fine."

"If you don't mind I'd like to accompany you four until you can find him, someone, he can be safe with," Quacey said as he stood up.

They all looked at Quacey. "You don't have to," Shade said. "We don't want to bring you any trouble."

"You aren't bringing any trouble, young one. I feel sorry after what you four went through with my cousin and to show I'm sorry I'd like to help you get the cub to safety. I'll make sure no one from my pack tries to hurt him."

The friends looked surprised but they looked at each other with smiles and looked back at Quacey. "Thanks, Quacey," Kassidy said. "We owe you one, big time."

Quacey smiled weakly. "No need to owe me anything, Kassidy. I'm just a wolf with loyalty happy to help."

* * *

**A/N- Hey, guys! I'm back with another chapter! Sorry for the long wait, I've been really busy with school work lately and I've been in a depression for a while but I managed to write the longest chapter of my life. Lately I've been thinking about how I'm going to manage my chapters seeing I might have a lot of them so that's when I decided that I'm going to do the best that I can to write a lot of words to my chapters just so it can be more enjoyable to all of you-hopefully-and so I can cut back on a lot of chapters I'll be posting in the future. Hopefully I made this chapter enjoyable to you and other than that next chapter will be up soon.**

**Also, before I forget, there might be a chance I'll be making changes and making corrections to this story so I will let you all know what's going to happen in the next chapter. Later!**


	36. A Changed Leader and a Bat Breakout

**Chapter 36**

**A Changed Leader and a Bat Breakout**

* * *

Making Artaois follow them wasn't a hard task and it was mostly because he was now attached to Kassidy. The four friends didn't need to worry about wolves and predators seeing that Quacey was now accompanying them until the cub found someone to stay with. The cub enjoyed having Quacey around and it was cute to the friends to see Artaois looked like he was bonding with Quacey and Quacey was friendly with the cub. Even though the cub couldn't speak as the rest of them could, Quacey still made a friendly chat with him.

To Holden, seeing a cub and a wolf bond was cool. Sure, he's seen stuff like these in movies but not in real life. Kassidy was even bonding with the cub and she was checking on him to see if he was doing alright and he looked fine. Holden really couldn't help but admire Kassidy acting like a Mother towards the cub. He didn't have the touch that Kassidy had but seeing how she was handling it made him wonder how she could do it. He did remember her telling him about how her cousins didn't have magic one time when they were back at Tree Haven and it probably did make sense that she probably got that touch when it came to her cousins. He didn't know how old they were but he could probably guess pretty young.

Kassidy then joined the three bats again as they were flying back to where they last saw of Ursa and even though she wasn't happy about trying to talk to Ursa she was still smiling at the cub weakly. Holden couldn't help but smile at her weakly because she was pretty caring. She was gothic but she had the kindness that a lot wouldn't imagine her having.

Kassidy's smile then faltered and she looked at Holden, Shade, and Marina. "It might've been a good idea for Artaois if he would've been taken in by Quacey, but he can't because of Quacey's pack."

"Yeah, he does seem like he'd be a good fit for Artaois," Holden said. "But like you said: Quacey's pack would've been a problem."

"You know I've been thinking about something," Shade said and the three bats looked at him. "Quacey not only looks like he could be a good alpha in his pack but he also looks like he'd be a better leader of the beasts than Ursa."

"I don't think the beasts would've liked it if Quacey was the leader of the beasts," Marina said. "Even though I agree he might've been a good fit to be the leader of the beasts, Ursa's still the leader. Although, I think we should listen to what Quacey said about Ursa. He does seem like he's right about her."

"I hope so," Kassidy said. "But I'm not going back on my word about going any further near Ursa because I can't find it in myself to even want to talk to her again after what she said."

"Are you sure?"

Kassidy looked at Marina. "Absolutely." She then looked ahead. "And speaking of what I said now I'm going to land here."

Kassidy then swooped down to a nearby tree and planted her feet on one of its tree branches that was the lowest to the ground and swung upside down with her arms crossed. The three bats glided near Kassidy as Quacey and the cub stopped to look at Ursa at a pretty far distance to see her still eating kibbles from the bear feeder and it looked like she was trying to reach farther into it to get more. Holden honestly couldn't blame Kassidy for not wanting to go anywhere near her again, in fact, he didn't want to either.

It reminded him-and he wished it didn't-of when he last spoke to his Mom. He remembered it clearly and they were yelling at each other until Holden finally had enough and yelled at her that he hoped she would burn in Hell and walked away never looking back at her or speaking to her again. It's been a long time since the last time he spoke to her and no one knows for sure what happened to her but Holden didn't care. His Mom was dead to him.

Holden then looked at everyone. "I'm going to stay here with Kass. I don't feel like dealing with Ursa as well."

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders not caring. "Well, be my guest then."

"And I'll keep them company," Quacey said as he sat on his haunches. "It'd be better for me if I kept a safe distance away from Ursa anyway."

Artaois stood up on his legs and placed his paws on the bark of the tree as he looked at Kassidy and he made his little bear call. Kassidy smiled weakly and pat his head gently like he was a puppy rather than a cub. "Don't worry, Artaois, I'll be right here watching. I'm not going anywhere."

The cub smiled cutely at Kassidy and then he licked her hand and after he did he got down. He then looked back at Ursa who was still eating kibbles and started to walk towards her slowly.

"Alright, Marina and I will accompany the cub," Shade said. "We'll let you know how it goes." Shade and Marina then quickly hurried to catch up to the cub so they could also talk to Ursa.

Quacey then looked up at Kassidy. "I heard what you said to Ursa some time ago, you know how to speak your words with passion."

Kassidy looked at Quacey with a blank expression on her face. "Umm… thanks."

"You're welcome." Quacey then looked back at Shade, Marina, and the cub. "I think you might've made Ursa realize something because of your speech."

Kassidy tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"After you and your friends left, Ursa looked like she was ashamed about something and it might've been because you made her realize what a leader is supposed to be like."

"She actually looked ashamed?" Holden said.

Quacey nodded. "I think you should watch Ursa very carefully."

Holden and Kassidy looked at each other but they then heard something hit against some metal and their eyes widened. They looked to Shade, Marina, the cub, and Ursa to see that Ursa was rubbing her head in pain. Holden guessed she hit her head against the bear feeder again. They then saw Ursa look at Shade, Marina, and the cub but when she saw the cub they heard her gasp real loud from where they were roosting and she said something they couldn't hear. Shade and Marina looked like they were trying to reason with Ursa but Ursa did not look like she was in a good mood as she was talking to them and the two Silverwings couldn't hear what they were saying.

With the two bats and the white bear talking, the cub was trying some kibbles that were on the ground, however, when Ursa finally looked back at the cub the two Silverwings heard Ursa gasp but she was looking at the cub furiously and they could hear her yelling at the cub. Ursa then pushed the cub with a hard force away from the kibbles and the cub looked at Ursa surprised but hurt at the same time.

Holden couldn't help but look at Ursa with his eyes narrowed as she went back to eating her kibbles. Ursa pushed the cub away from the kibbles like they were her prized possessions. Once again, Kassidy's prediction was right.

Holden's ears flicked forward and he heard Kassidy growl. He looked at her and he saw she was staring at Ursa angrily and her hands were turned into fists. She looked like she was going to burst into flames and Holden was ready to brace himself for the worse for he thought he could also see fire in her eyes.

"Don't jump to conclusions yet, you two," they looked at Quacey and he was staring at Ursa carefully. "Watch."

Holden and Kassidy blinked their eyes a few times but they then looked back at Ursa and watched her carefully as Quacey did. As Holden watched carefully, he noticed Ursa was looking at the cub without Shade and Marina realizing it with some… pity, as she was eating. Now that Holden was watching Ursa, he could see she had shame in her eyes, and to his surprise, she flicked one measly piece of kibble towards the cub and it was pretty big. The cub sniffed at the kibble and then he licked it up from the ground.

The two Silverwing friends looked at each other and didn't know what to say but they both couldn't believe that Quacey could catch onto what Ursa was really feeling. It was but a sight to see.

* * *

A little bit of mist began to spread slowly and leaves were starting to blow in the wind with some dancing grace. They could all still see through the mist and they could practically taste it. However, for safe cautions, they stuck as close as they could together, with the four bats flying in the sky and the wolf and cub walking on all fours on the ground.

Time seemed to be ticking by fast for the four friends needed to find Artaois a home fast so they could get back on track. In all honesty, Kassidy wished that Ursa took the cub because she actually looked like she wanted to take the cub in as her own but she still didn't want him. Kassidy sighed and didn't know what to think of Ursa now that she saw what happened a little bit ago.

"My colony's barely an echo from here and we're stuck with this cub," Shade said looking irritated.

"We can't just leave him," Marina said.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of the little guy," a voice spoke.

The group stopped in their tracks and to their shock, they saw Luger the alpha, with two of the wolves that the four bat friends recognized and with Quacey telling them that their names were Kiba and Virtuoso. What was even more shocking was that more wolves were appearing and they were growling in hunger staring at the cub. Kassidy counted and she saw that there were about eight wolves in total.

"You've got to be kidding me," Holden said.

Without a second thought, Kassidy landed on the ground near the cub and began to snarl at the wolves as her other bat friends landed next to her. The alpha saw her and grinned at her. "We meet again, witch. Pretty quick we'd be seeing each other again and it looks like you asked my cousin here to help you seek me out."

"I wasn't seeking you out," Kassidy said angrily.

Luger laughed. "Then I guess we bumped into each other in perfect timing." The alpha looked at the cub and the cub was shaking in freight but he then looked back at Kassidy. "So I guess since you weren't seeking me out you still haven't thought about what I said?"

"I told you before I'm not the leader of the Silverwings, and I'm not planning anything that'll harm anyone. What you've been told about me is a lie and it's because of the giant bats. Now you and your pack scram and let the cub be."

Luger and his pack looked at Kassidy with some annoyance. Luger then took a couple of steps towards Kassidy. "Why should we? If you hand the cub over to us he won't be a problem for you anymore and why do you have to lie about yourself? We all know who you truly are."

"I'm. Not. The. Leader. And we're not handing you over Artaois, you're not going to lay a grimy paw on him."

"That's right," Marina said. "You're not going to have him and Kassidy has nothing planned to harm anyone."

"You want Artaois?" Shade said as he looked at the wolves angrily. "You'll have to go through us."

"Yeah, you wolves will be sorry if you don't leave right now," Holden said with his eyes narrowed.

The wolves looked at one another and started to whisper with each other, however, Luger looked at the four friends amused, and then he started to laugh. One by one, wolves began to laugh along with their alpha, and the four friends stared at the wolves not finding this funny. The alpha then looked back at the four bats. "You flying mice don't know what you're dealing with. Don't make this any more difficult than it already is. Just give us the cub and we'll be on our way."

The four friends stood their ground and didn't move an inch. "No," Kassidy said firmly, "and that's final."

Luger looked at Kassidy with his brow furrowed and began to growl. "Fine… have it your way, witch." Luger was about to do something but before he could, Quacey all the sudden got in front of his cousin. Luger looked at him with frustration. "What do you think you're doing? Get out of the way!"

"Luger, it's not worth it," Quacey said calmly. "I think you and the others had enough to eat for today."

The wolves looked at Quacey with confusion but with frustration at the same time and began to whisper about him coldly. Luger looked like he was getting fed up with his cousin. "I've about had it with you. You think you can just walk right up to me and tell us what to do? I'm the alpha and you're not!"

"And I realize that, but you want to know something? Since you're the alpha you're supposed to be telling everybody things and I mean _everybody_."

Luger looked at his cousin confused. "What're you talking about?"

"You never told me you were also planning on expanding territory. Don't you realize what you're doing? If we eat more beasts in this forest and expand territory the population of beasts will decrease more leaving us with nothing to eat on besides herbs."

"Small risk, but one I'm more than willing to take."

Quacey furrowed his brow at Luger. "Well, I'm not."

Luger looked at his cousin surprised but he then furrowed his brow at him. "Then I guess you're out of the pack." The four friends were shocked and gasped and the cub looked shocked as well. Quacey looked at his cousin with his eyes widened but Luger and the other wolves didn't seem to mind what Luger's choice was. "Now get out of my way, one-eared freak!" Before Quacey could do anything, Luger jumped at his cousin and pushed him real hard towards the ground off to the side and Quacey groaned on the ground.

The friends were looking at Quacey worried but then they heard growling and the wolves were coming towards them now even hungrier than before. Kassidy looked at her friends. "Don't let them get the cub. We have to keep him safe no matter what!"

Her friends nodded and then they looked back at the wolves and were ready to protect the cub. Then, the pack started to run towards them. Kassidy, Holden, Shade, and Marina took off from the ground and started to defend the cub. Shade got on a wolf's face and began to claw at it and the wolf howled in pain and whimper trying to shake Shade off him. Marina got onto another wolf and she was on its neck and she then bit its neck and the wolf howled in pain like she was a vampire trying to suck his blood. Holden managed to find a stick to his size that was sturdy and he swung it at one wolf's face with his clawed feet like he was swinging a crowbar and the wolf hit the ground hard. Another wolf tried to pounce on Holden but Holden saw him coming and swung his stick once again and it hit the wolf square in the face.

As for Kassidy, she summoned her fire spell and began to try and scare some of the wolves with it and some of them backed away whimpering. "Back off!"

Without knowing it, a rabbit and a raccoon were watching the fight shocked but what was surprising to them was that these bats were defending a cub. They continued to watch without being noticed.

"Stop fooling around and take them down," Luger shouted snarling.

Shade and Marina tried to sneakily fly behind Luger to try and attack him but to their bad luck, the alpha saw them and he then kicked Shade straight to the chest like he was a horse and Shade started to fly out of control and he knocked into Marina and they then crashed to the ground and groaned. Holden kept trying to swing his stick at the wolves but then, the wolf named Kiba managed to grab a hold of Holden's stick and Holden tried to rip it out of Kiba's mouth but Kiba easily managed to hold onto it and he then flung the stick with Holden still holding onto it towards Shade and Marina and Holden screamed and he then crashed into Shade and Marina and he groaned. The wolves still kept trying to get the cub but Kassidy wouldn't let them. The wolves no longer looked like they were afraid of the fire Kassidy had in her hands so she knew she had to try and think differently. A couple of wolves ran towards Kassidy and before they could do anything, Kassidy summoned her snow spell and aimed it at them and it blew at them like a snowstorm and the wolves got knocked off their feet and they crashed to the ground.

The cub tried to run and go find a hiding place but what Kassidy didn't know was that Luger saw him try to go hide and so he began to go around Kassidy and a couple of wolves followed him. Luger managed to block the cub's way and so did two of the other wolves and Luger grinned menacingly at the cub and the cub made frightful noises and tried to call for Kassidy. Kassidy heard the cub and she looked over her shoulder and gasped when she saw the cub was in trouble. Luger and the other two wolves had him cornered by a tree. One wolf was about to walk towards the cub, but Luger growled at him warningly. Luger then walked towards the cub but before he could get anywhere as close to try and kill Artaois, a wolf got in front of him and snarled with his fur bristled and it was none other than Quacey.

Luger looked surprised, but he then snarled at Quacey. "Get out of the way!"

"Leave the cub alone," Quacey said, standing his ground.

They stared at each other angrily but Luger then looked at the cub and the cub was looking up at Quacey. Luger then looked back at Quacey. "Fine, I'll take you down first."

Kassidy heard a wolf running at her and just in time, she summoned a light spell towards the wolf and when she did it practically almost went blind and she started to whimper and she was rubbing her eyes off to the side. Kassidy's friends managed to recover and began to help her once again. Kassidy looked over her shoulder again and she saw Quacey and Luger circling around each other snarling and then Luger pounced at Quacey and they rolled to the ground and then they began to fight while snarling and barking. While they were fighting, Kassidy saw the two wolves advancing towards Artaois and she gasped.

"NO!" Kassidy shouted.

Then, one of the two wolves pounced at Artaois, and time seemed to have slowed down and Kassidy's heart and blood seemed to have stopped working as the wolf leaped towards Artaois. Her breath was stuck in her throat as she felt very slow to try and use her magic on the wolf to knock him away from the cub. She couldn't fail him. She just couldn't. She couldn't fail him like she failed her parents.

But then, something swiped at the wolf and he yelped and crashed to the ground and whimpered. Kassidy was shocked to see who it was, protecting the cub. Standing on her two legs and roaring at the two wolves was none other than Ursa. The two wolves looked at Ursa shocked but they then snarled at her and tried to attack her as they barked. Ursa hit the first one she hit again and the other pounced on her but before he could rip anything off of her, Ursa pushed him off her with both of her feet and the wolf crashed into a tree and hit the ground hard.

"Kass, look out," Shade shouted.

Kassidy saw a wolf try to pounce at her but she somersaulted out of the way and got back on her feet. The fight continued with the four bat friends, the one-eared wolf, and the white kermode bear versus Luger and the other wolves. The rabbit and raccoon continued to watch scared but amazed at the same time at what they were witnessing.

Then, Kassidy jumped onto one wolf and when she did she used her levitation spell and concentrated on one wolf that was Virtuoso and when she did, the wolf was floating and she was freaking out and then, Kassidy threw her at another wolf and they collided into each other and crashed to the ground. Then, in a fast movement, Kassidy jumped off the wolf she was on and in perfect timing, a wolf was trying to get her but instead, he ended up crashing into his companion. Kassidy then ended up doing a summersault once again.

The wolves were now whimpering and they began to retreat with their tails between their legs, all except for Luger. Quacey and Luger were still fighting and they had wounds and were bleeding all over themselves. Then in a quick movement, Quacey used his body to knock Luger off his feet, and Luger crashed to the ground and groaned. Quacey breathed hard and as he did he then spat blood out of his bleeding mouth to the ground.

Luger looked up at Quacey and he slowly got up and as he did he snarled at Quacey. "This isn't over, Quacey! You'll be sorry for ever defending that cub!" And with that, Luger ran off to catch up with Quacey's ex-pack.

The bats, the one-eared wolf, and the two bears watched as Luger ran off and when he was gone, Kassidy's friends whooped. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about," Holden shouted cheerfully and he and Shade high foured and they and Marina continued to whoop.

Kassidy smiled weakly at her friends but she then looked at the cub and he was making a cheerful sound towards Ursa. Ursa was looking at her paws with a shocked look on her face as Quacey was trying to catch his breath. Kassidy was relieved that the wolves were finally gone and the cub was safe.

* * *

They were all back at the bear feeder and joining them was a raccoon and a rabbit that was watching them fighting off the wolves. It was a brutal fight but they managed to get out of it alive.

Ursa gave Artaois a share of her kibbles in a metal looking plate and when she did, the cub smiled up at her gleefully and then began to eat and Shade, Marina, the rabbit, and the raccoon watched. Quacey watched too as Kassidy was mending his wounds with healing poultice and leaves and Holden offered to help as well. Quacey told them that they didn't have to but they insisted they would and in the end Quacey allowed them to mend his wounds.

Then, Ursa pushed another metal looking plate with kibbles on it towards Quacey and Quacey looked surprised. He then looked up at Ursa. "Is this for me?"

"Of course it is," Ursa said. "Why else do you think I pushed this towards you?"

"Well I appreciate it, but I'm not hungry."

"Don't try to fool me, I can tell you barely had anything to eat today. Besides you need your strength again."

Quacey looked at the kibbles and he looked back at Ursa and started to think. He then sighed and looked back at the kibbles. He sniffed at them and he then slowly took a bite out of the kibbles and began to chew and swallow. His eyes widened and he looked up at Ursa. "This is… pretty good."

Ursa smiled at Quacey. "Well of course it is, now don't waste it."

Quacey went back to eating as Kassidy and Holden were finishing up mending his wounds and when they did, Kassidy dusted her hands off. "Well, that takes care of it."

"That was incredible what you all did," the rabbit said. "You showed those wolves."

"Yeah, I've never seen bats, a bear, and even a wolf working together to fight off wolves," the raccoon said.

"You actually took charge, Ursa," Marina said encouragingly.

"Yeah, but there's something I need to know," Kassidy said as she crossed her arms and looked at Ursa. "Why did you do that? After all you said and you helped us fight off those wolves."

Ursa looked at Kassidy and she sighed. "It was all because of you. After what you told me your words caught me off guard but it is you I can also thank for. After you and your friends left I was thinking things over and the more I thought about it the more I realized that you were right… and I will admit that I was acting selfish. I now realize that I need to act more like a leader and I'm sorry about everything. I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me. I probably don't deserve it but just know I'm willing to act like a better leader."

Kassidy looked at Ursa with surprise and she saw that Ursa looked like she meant what she said. She looked at her friends and they looked like they were now alright with Ursa. If they were fine with it then maybe she should be too. She after all did help them with the wolves.

She looked back at Ursa and smiled weakly. "I think we all deserve second chances and because you risked your life for Artaois I'll forgive you."

Ursa looked surprised but she then smiled weakly at Kassidy. "Thank you."

"No, I should be thanking you."

Ursa then tilted her head. "I have one question though. Brutus told us that one of your Silverwing friends and you are humans. Is that true?"

Kassidy looked shocked. How did Brutus know? Kassidy slowly looked at Holden and she saw that he was acting like he was focused on something and he was whistling a tune. Kassidy narrowed her eyes at Holden. "You got something to say?"

"Huh?" Holden looked at Kassidy and he then began to laugh nervously. "Umm… about what?"

"Don't give me that look." She then looked from Holden to her other friends. "Would someone explain something to me?"

"We can explain later," Marina said and she then looked at Ursa. "But yes, Kassidy and Holden are humans."

The beasts looked at Kassidy and Holden in amazement. "So it is true," the raccoon said. "Those two are actually humans, but how?"

Kassidy sighed but knew there was no point in trying to deny it and so she told the beasts how she and Holden were turned into humans and she had to explain some things but the beasts listened carefully. In the end, the beasts thought that was quite a story.

Holden got next to Kassidy and asked: "So, what happens now?"

"Well the wolves are gone for now," Ursa said as she lied down on her stomach. "But they'll be back."

Quacey sighed and stood up. "I'm afraid what Ursa says is true… and I can guarantee that there'll be more of them next time…"

"We have to cross the human road," the raccoon said. "Find someplace safe."

"No," Ursa stated firmly and this took everyone by surprise. "Running away won't solve this. We'll go to Brutus; we'll tell him Shade, Kassidy, and Holden's story and get him to stop this war."

The four bat friends looked surprised but they then looked at Ursa gratefully for what she was going to do. Kassidy couldn't believe that Ursa was willing to do this but she was happy to hear that Ursa was going to try and convince Brutus that they were innocent. She hoped that this time Brutus would call this whole thing off.

* * *

"What a night this has been," Holden said.

"Yeah, but it's a good thing that we now have the leader of the beasts on our side now," Shade said.

The four friends were continuing on their way to find the colony and with none of them hurt they had some strength left to go further. Although they lost some of their energy from trying to protect Artaois they continued onwards. Before they left they said their thanks to Ursa and said bye to her and the other beasts that they were talking too. The best part was that Ursa was going to take care of Artaois. Kassidy was going to miss the little guy but she hoped to see him again soon.

Even though Kassidy was glad Ursa was going to take care of everything, she had something bugging her. If Orestes did tell some owls about the giant bats and where they were shouldn't they have also seen Martin's corpse? Kassidy thought about how the owls should've seen the body too and then they probably would've believed that she, Holden, Shade, and everyone else they found guilty was innocent. She started to think that maybe some sort of animal dragged Martin's corpse somewhere and ate his burnt flesh as if it got it from a barbeque party. It would make sense but that would mean the corpse would be somewhere else decayed and she knew the chances of the owls finding it was a low one.

What was also a low chance was Martin surviving. If Martin could've survived he would've been moving without difficulty. She could still see Martin's lifeless body, with the burnt smell and the smoky wreckage coming off it. At least she wouldn't have to see that body again. However, she couldn't stop thinking about what happened to the body.

"Will Brutus believe Ursa, that Martin and the other three giant bats are the actual causes of this?" Marina asked.

"I hope so," Shade said. "But at least the giant bats won't be a problem."

"That's true but I think we can all realize that they didn't see any evidence of Martin's body," Kassidy said. "I mean without the evidence I can see why they would also think we're still guilty."

"Shit, she's right," Holden said. "We probably should've told Orestes to take the body somewhere so no animal could try to eat him."

"Well it's too late now," Marina said. "Although, putting Martin's body somewhere would've been hard for Orestes to do, and let's not forget he also had to tell the owls about the giant bats."

"Look, what matters is that we might have another chance to get out of this messed up situation," Shade said. "At least I hope so."

Another thing that was on Kassidy's mind since they talked with the beasts a while ago was the information Ursa said that Brutus said to the beasts. She then looked at her friends. "So you guys now mind explaining yourselves about why Brutus has information about Holden and I being humans and yet doesn't believe that?"

Holden, Shade, and Marina looked at each other and they looked uncomfortable about something. They then looked back at Kassidy. "Oh… that…" Holden said seeming a little nervous.

Kassidy looked at them seriously and waited for one of them to answer. She wanted to know and she wouldn't let them try to change the subject and if they did she would keep asking them. She wanted the full story.

But to Kassidy's relief, they started to tell her what happened after she got kidnapped by the giant bats. They told her about the argument they had with Brutus and how he still didn't believe them even after they saved Orestes and Holden got mad at him and ended up blurting out that he and Kassidy were humans. Kassidy wished she told Holden that they couldn't tell anyone else that they were humans unless they were trustworthy enough to be told so. Now she could tell that this was going to be spread around and she didn't want that but it was too late now.

After they told their story to her, Kassidy breathed through her nose and sighed. "I wish I was there at that time with you guys…"

"Don't blame yourself, Kass," Marina said. "At least we're all still here if it weren't for Orestes getting us out of that prison."

"It's also a good thing that getting arrested by owls won't go on my records," Holden said and Marina and Shade looked at him confused. Holden then looked at Kassidy. "Kass, can you explain what I said to them?"

Kassidy sarcastically smiled at Holden. "What am I, a dictionary now?"

"Hey, you explain things better than I do and you're looking at someone that has a D in world literature."

"One of you going to explain to us what you're talking about?" Marina asked.

Kassidy and Holden looked at their curious and confused friends and Kassidy then explained to them what Holden meant by records and she and Holden then explained to them the best they could about what they just talked about but Kassidy mostly did the explaining. They told them about what high school was like including, classes, grades, sports, and clubs. Kassidy told them how she was known as the lone wolf and the gothic girl and Holden told them how he was known as the popular, party boy. Shade and Marina looked excited as Kassidy and Holden told them about high school but what didn't excite them was that there was always drama at high school but they still enjoyed what Kassidy and Holden had to say.

"You guys are strange, you know that?" Marina said.

"That's quite understandable," Kassidy said.

"What else is there that we don't know about?" Shade said.

Kassidy laughed. "We'll tell you more tomorrow." Kassidy then looked to the sky. "I think we should find somewhere to roost though, the sun's going to be up soon."

Shade looked to the sky surprised. "Wow, already? Alright, guess we'll find a roost then."

"You guys wonder whatever happened to the three giant bats Orestes said he'll take care of?" Holden asked curiously.

"I try not to," Marina said. "But whatever the owls plan on doing to them I'm sure they'll get what they deserve."

Kassidy hoped Goth, Throbb, and Dianna were getting what they deserved. They might've successfully told a remarkable lie to Brutus but that didn't mean they weren't going to get punished. She might not be able to teach them a lesson at this moment but at this moment she was willing to put the fate of the trio of giant bats in the owls' talons.

* * *

One day passed and Goth thought that the prison he was stuck in with Throbb and Dianna was probably much worse than the fake jungle the humans put him and Throbb in. In the fake jungle, it at least had warmth, more room to fly in, and food that sort of filled them up, even though it was just mice and they tasted bland. But here in their prison, it was much worse.

There was barely any warmth and Goth and Throbb had to warm themselves up to any way they could and they had to do it often because the prison they were in was not getting any warmer but it seemed like it was getting colder and the coldness felt like it was trying to tear off what was left on their bodies until they were just bare skin. Dianna didn't warm up every so often as Goth and Throbb did but whenever she did she just warmed her hands with her breath or she just rubbed her hands together. Goth and Throbb had the worst sleep of their lives because of the coldness. They tried to get the warmest spot they could on the ceiling of their prison so they couldn't feel the cold wind but they didn't have any luck and they were shivering and clattering their teeth all night. Goth covered his whole body up tightly the best he could while he was trying to get some sleep but the wind seemed like it knew how to freeze him no matter what. When he and Throbb woke up they had bags under their eyes and their eyes were bloodshot.

There was also barely any room to fly in here and the only places that the three of them could fly to were the ceiling or back down to the floor from the ceiling for it was crammed. They could pretty much only move on the ceiling or the ground using their feet or both the feet and hands but that pretty much annoyed all three of them because they sometimes had to move out of the way so the other one could get by and that was a pain in the ass for them. What made matters worse was the amount of food they've had since they were in prison. They didn't get any big or small juicy animals to eat that could fill their hunger and all the owls gave them to eat were worms and there were barely any for them to eat.

Goth and Throbb were on the ceiling trying to warm themselves up while Dianna was on the ground looking out through their cell door. Goth was breathing through his hands and as he did cold air was visible to see and after he did he began to rub his arms tired and hangry. He was at the point where he wanted to kill Dianna and eat her because she told him and Throbb that Martin would find them but he still wasn't here yet. Where the hell was he? He wanted out.

"Goth… did I mention to you that I'm freezing cold right now?" Throbb asked while shivering.

Goth growled in irritation and rolled his eyes. "You may have mentioned that once. Or was it _once_ too much!" Throbb flinched at Goth's outburst. "Be lucky I haven't ripped your hide off yet, otherwise I would've used it to warm myself up more…"

The wind blew once again and the brothers started to shiver once more and cover their bodies more tightly with their large wings. Dianna didn't even flinch as the wind blew at her figure, making her black hair flow along with the wind as she kept staring out through the cell door. Goth caught a whiff of Dianna's scent and when he did he thought the smell was strange. It didn't smell anything like a Vampyrum Spectrum bat. Instead, it smelt like… a scent of a human. Now that Goth thought about it, her scent wasn't the only scent that was strange to him.

Martin's scent was like Dianna's as well. At first, he didn't think too much about it but their scents were driving Goth crazy. He hated the smell of humans and smelling humans on Martin and Dianna made him furious. Were they with the humans that long to be stuck with that smell? He also managed to get a good whiff at the insectivore bats they were with some days ago and Shade and Marina had the bat scent that Goth would've expected but as for Kassidy and Holden their scents were like Martin and Dianna's. This confused him because neither of those two mentioned being anywhere near humans. Marina did say she was near humans but she didn't have a human smell on her. Goth thought the north was not only a hell hole but also messed up at the same time.

He didn't say anything about the human scents to anyone but decided to keep it to himself for good reasons. Very good reasons.

As Goth was warming himself up he noticed that Throbb was staring at Dianna in a very confused but suspicious way and this got Goth confused. Usually, he's seen Throbb look at Dianna uncomfortably but this time he wasn't and that was the first. What was he thinking about?

Throbb then looked at Goth. "Goth, I need to talk to you about something." He whispered.

Goth furrowed his brow at him. "Why are you whispering?" He whispered back.

"Because…" Throbb then used his head to indicate towards Dianna.

Goth looked at Dianna and she was still looking outside. Not knowing what this was about, Goth decided to let Throbb explain himself through whispering even though he wasn't in the mood for this. The brothers then turned their backs to Dianna.

"What's this about?" Goth asked annoyed.

Throbb rubbed his neck as he looked back at Dianna and then he looked back at Goth. "Remember that bird that was in the human place that Martin wanted me to get?"

Goth blinked his eyes a few times confused. "Why are you asking me this?"

"I didn't catch him. He was too fast for me. I tried but he ended up getting me instead. I thought for sure he was going to kill me but he didn't."

Goth crossed his arms. "The bird caught you but he didn't kill you?"

"I know it sounds stupid but it's true. Goth, I've never seen a bird like this one… he talked to me."

"So what? Every animal can talk."

"Not like this one… he talked to me but he didn't move his beak. I could hear him clearly but it felt strange the way he did it."

Goth looked at Throbb like he was crazy. No animal could talk without moving its mouth/beak. He then grabbed a handful of Throbb's mane roughly. "I think you're out of your mind. Animals don't talk without moving their mouths or beaks and you're losing it this time!"

Throbb's eyes widened but he tried to stay calm. "I'm not lying, it's true! I saw and heard everything. H-He told me something…"

Goth started to snarl. "My patience is running thin…"

"I think what he told me involves Martin and Dianna."

Goth stopped snarling and looked at Throbb confused. He played back what Throbb just said inside his head and Throbb said it without hesitation. Goth had no idea what to think at this moment.

He looked at Dianna and she was still looking outside and didn't even move from her place like she was no longer living. Goth looked back at Throbb. "What do you mean?"

"He told me not to trust them. He also told me that they may look like they're a part of our kind but they're not at all what they seem they are. Goth… I think he was talking about Martin and Dianna."

Goth thought about what Throbb said carefully. Why would a bird warn Throbb about Martin and Dianna? Goth was now for sure that Throbb lost his mind. Who in their right minds would think of such a thing?

However, Goth thought about Throbb saying they're not at all what they seem they are. Those spouses were crazy no doubt about it, but if this bird told Throbb what he said to him what did he mean by, "They're not at all what they seem they are?" He rubbed his eyes with two of his fingers finding this frustrating to think about. He didn't want to believe what Throbb told him, it just sounded ridiculous.

Goth then looked back at Throbb. "And do you expect me to believe a story like that? Do you honestly believe your own story you told me is true? Because I think your mind is playing tricks with you right now."

"I…" Throbb looked hesitant as he began to think. "I don't know… but what if that bird was actually trying to tell me something?"

Goth was getting fed up with this conversation as he was now growling to himself and he looked away from Throbb trying not to pummel him to the face. He would not believe that story. All he was concerned about was getting out of here. He didn't know if this King Boreal was on his way here or not but either way he just wanted to get out of here.

He looked at Dianna and glared at her and while he did he glided down from the ceiling and landed on the ground. "Señorita," he hissed while whispering.

Dianna sighed annoyed and she scowled at Goth. She walked up to Goth and when she got near him she stopped. "What!?" She whispered angrily.

"You said Martin would find us but he still hasn't shown up!"

"And he will."

"Then why hasn't he? For all we know he could be dead and any time or day now this King Boreal is going to be deciding our fates!"

"My husband is not dead you fool! Like I said: he will find us and we won't have to worry about this King Boreal."

Goth was about to retort but the then heard one of the owls guarding their jail cell shout: "Hey, bat! Stay where you are!"

Goth thought the owl was talking to one of them but he saw the owl wasn't even looking at him, Throbb, or Dianna. Dianna looked at him annoyed one last time before she walked back over to the cell door. Throbb joined Goth on the floor and as confused as they were they went over to the cell door to see what was going on. They looked out to see the owl guards were looking at something and they were in defense.

Goth looked to where the owls were looking and he saw a shadow of a bat figure gliding towards them and he couldn't see who it was but it was definitely a bat figure. But as the bat got closer he started to notice that the figure looked feminine. This figure looked familiar and as she got closer he could get a better look at her and when he did his eyes widened.

Gliding towards their jail cell was the witch.

"J-Julius… is that…?" One of the owl guards said now looking a little freaked out.

"Dear god…" the owl named Julius said shocked. "It's the witch!" Kassidy landed at a far distance away from the owl guards but close enough to them and as she did the owls tried to look aggressive. "Don't come any closer witch!"

To more of Goth's surprise, Kassidy chuckled-which he's never seen her do-and it made the owl guards look uncomfortable. "Now, now, I'm not here to hurt you two. I just came here to collect these three." Kassidy said with a smirk. "Just hand them over."

Goth blinked his eyes confused to be sure he heard her correctly. Why did she now want to help them? This was something Goth would not have expected from her.

"I said do not come any closer," the owl named Julius shouted a little louder.

Kassidy hummed as she crossed her arms. "Perhaps you didn't hear me correctly. Let me repeat myself differently."

Kassidy then looked like she was concentrating on something and as she did the owl guards were looking at her confused as to what she was doing. And then, in a matter of moments, Kassidy's ocean blue eyes started to glow. The owls looked stunned by what she was doing but then their eyes started to glow as well and they stood still in place. Goth and Throbb didn't know what was happening but Goth couldn't bring himself to move as he watched what was happening. The owls still didn't move or speak any further as their eyes continued to glow and their bottom beaks hung open.

Kassidy then sneered. "Now, isn't this better?"

The owls slowly nodded. "Yes…" They said simultaneously.

"Good, now I'm here to collect those three." She then looked at one of the owls and pointed at him. "You, would you mind letting them out?"

The owl Kassidy spoke to slowly nodded. "Of course, I'll let them out."

The owl that Kassidy spoke to then turned around and then he used his talon to lift a latch to the cell door and when he did he started to open it more widely for Goth, Throbb, and Dianna. Goth had no words to say as he and Throbb looked at each other. Dianna already got next to Kassidy without any hesitation and they saw she wasn't surprised about this. Not knowing what else to do, Goth and Throbb flew over to where Kassidy and Dianna were and landed next to them.

"Now shut it," Kassidy said to the owl she talked to. The owl obeyed her and he shut the door all the way. "Good, and that's all I need." She then looked from both the owl guards and she looked like she had an idea. "Now, fight each other." The glowing in Kassidy's eyes then faded and as it did so did the glow in the owls' eyes.

The two owls looked at each other and then within seconds, the two began to tackle each other. They screeched loudly as they fought brutally like actual savages. Then one of the owls flew up in the air and grabbed the other one and threw him very hard and the owl he threw started to spin out of control but he managed to keep his flight steady and then they continued to fight in the sky.

Then out of nowhere, something black started to surround him and as it did his body started to feel weird. He couldn't feel it and Goth wasn't liking this and it was like he was becoming part of the black cloud that was surrounding him. He was then completely in the black cloud and he couldn't see anything on him. What was happening?

Just as he thought he was going to be stuck in this black cloud it disappeared and he felt and saw his body again. Saying that it was all a dream would be nonsense and even though he barely had any sleep he was certain he wasn't sleeping, although if it was a dream, Goth wasn't sure if this would be a good dream or not. He even wasn't sure if he wanted this to be a dream or not.

Goth took a moment to process what just happened and as he did he noticed that he and the others were no longer in owl territory. Instead, he saw that they were all in a cave. A big one for that matter and it was at least not crammed like it was back in the prison cell. If he had to spend at least a few more days in that prison he might've gone mad and try and eat Throbb or Dianna so he could survive. Goth was relieved he won't be spending any more time in that prison.

The confusion started to swarm more around the inside of his brain and it was like his brain was in water and he could tell Throbb was having the same confusion as him. The brothers looked at Kassidy and she was staring at them with no emotion as was Dianna. Wouldn't she have liked it better if they were in prison?

"Señorita, why did you get us out of that prison?" Goth asked. "I would've thought for sure you didn't want anything to do with us after that whole incident a couple of days ago."

Kassidy rolled her ocean blue eyes as she sighed annoyed. "It's not the orphan, it's me, Martin." Kassidy-or Martin for that matter, lifted his hand towards himself and when he did he flicked his wrist and a black cloud engulfed around the figure and spun like a tornado would and it was over immediately and standing in the cave with the other three giant bats was no longer Kassidy but Martin himself, looking like he always did. He then moved his head from the right to the left and as he did his neck cracked. "That's better." Goth and Throbb had their jaws dropped and when Martin saw it he furrowed his brow at them. "Don't be surprised, my wife even told you two I was coming. Were you actually expecting the orphan to come to the rescue?"

Goth and Throbb looked at Dianna and she had her brow furrowed at Goth. "I told you so. Why else do you think I made up that story?"

_So, Martin must've listened to the fake story she told to the owls, _Goth thought to himself, _by using his magic... _He realized that Dianna's story also meant that Martin had the advantage to disguise himself so no one would suspect him.

Goth rolled his eyes as he looked away from Dianna and he then looked back at Martin and so did Throbb. "What exactly did you do to those owls back there?" Goth asked.

"Simple," Martin said as he walked more into the cave, "I hypnotized the owls into doing my biddings. I was going to kill them but them killing each other makes things much more entertaining."

Goth crossed his arms as he then thought, _So it seems…_

"B-But, what was that whole black cloud thing?" Throbb asked. "We went from that owl territory to here and you also used that black cloud to go from the witch to your normal self."

Martin slightly looked over his shoulder at Throbb in a creepy way. His snake looking eyes were boring into Throbb's normal eyes as if he was planning on having him for dinner and it was working because Throbb was looking nervous as he usually did. He then looked away and had his winged-arms on his back with the huge snake drawing on there as he looked like he was thinking about something. Goth didn't know what he was thinking about but from the looks of it, he could tell he was thinking about something.

"Clearly your brain is smaller than that potbelly of yours but I might as well explain those actions to you," Martin said. "That 'black cloud' you speak of is part of my magic. One of the spells I used for us to get us here involving that magic was the transportation spell. The other spell I used with that magic is called the transformation spell. Two spells even that redhead orphan can't even do." Martin chuckled with a sinister smile.

Before Goth could say anything he started to smell something strong. It smelt of blood and this blood Goth was smelling seemed to be coming nearby. He could smell it all around the inside of the cave. It smelt of the same repulsing human stench that Goth hated. He thought maybe his brain was screwing around with him ever since he was in that cell. He hoped his instincts were right because he did not believe that he was smelling any sort of human blood. After all, there was no sign of any human being here.

He could also smell it below him and he looked down and when he did he noticed some sort of line. His eyes followed the trail and it seemed like this trail was making a very odd shape. Goth kept following the trail using his eyes and he had to turn his body every so often for this odd-looking shape was taking up almost all of the floor of the cave. He wanted a better look at the shape and so he lifted from the ground and went to the ceiling and he then planted his feet on the ceiling and he then looked down at the shape he was trying to make out and when he did he couldn't believe his eyes. On the very floor was a large shape of a star in a circle and it was all in red. Red blood for that matter and even though it was red it looked like Martin and Kassidy's markings on the palms of their hands only their markings were black. It was like looking at one of the symbols back at the pyramid.

Throbb came up to the ceiling to get a better look at the shape as well and like Goth, he couldn't believe what he saw. Goth heard Throbb whisper to himself in Spanish and Goth didn't pick up on what he said but he was sure he was saying something about that symbol. What was it doing in a cave like this?

"I see you two are admiring my masterpiece," Martin proudly admitted. "Took me some time to do this and it was mostly why you two and my wife had to wait a little longer in that owl made cell."

Goth furrowed his brow in confusion at Martin. "And what was the purpose of doing this?"

"This was the purpose."

Martin then held his hand out and as he did a small looking black cloud formed and as it did it quickly dissolved into something else. Goth wanted to get a better look at the object that was in Martin's hand and so he and Throbb glided back to the ground near Martin and looked at the object. When they could get a better look at the object they could see that it looked scaly and golden. It had eyes red as Zotz's eyes that Goth heard from stories from his home but for some reason, the eyes looked strange. They were… shining. In fact, the whole object looked shiny like a piece of treasure that a human would've likely taken, at least that was a story that Goth heard about.

This object that the two were seeing was a snake. The only thing was that this snake was not moving. It seemed to Goth that it might've been dead but for some reason he thought he could hear some hissing. The snake was not making any signs of hissing but Goth could literally hear the hissing. _What's wrong with me lately? _Goth thought to himself.

"A snake?" Goth then crossed his arms. "What for exactly?"

Martin looked at the snake as he continued to smile his sadistic looking smile like it was precious to him. "This snake here is something I created using blood magic. It's not alive but it will serve a great purpose. This here is a little gift for the orphan."

He could hear the snake again and he and Throbb looked at it again. If it wasn't alive then what exactly? However, as they continued to stare at it, the snake's eyes then slowly started to glow a brighter red and it kind of glowed like Martin's disguised eyes did. Whatever this gift was for the witch, Goth was glad he wasn't going to be the one to receive it.

* * *

**A/N- Back with another chapter! So in the last chapter I said I might be making changes and corrections in my other chapters and I will be. So I might be gone long as I make changes and corrections to my chapters but I hope that it won't be a problem for any of you. I just want my chapters to make sense to all of you without having some errors. If there's a chance I won't be gone long then I might be able to get in another chapter as soon as I can. Well that's all there is to it and have a nice day.**


	37. The Grass is Not Always Greener

**Chapter 37**

**The Grass is Not Always Greener**

* * *

The next day came by like a breeze for the four friends and it felt like they just closed their eyes, however, they all managed to get up early so they could catch up to the colony faster. Before leaving, however, they all wanted to get freshened up. Crickets were chirping as the four friends were getting freshened up but it didn't bother them. All they were concerned about was hurrying up so they could find the colony.

In the mornings, Holden usually would've listened to some music to get himself motivated but the only thing close to what sounded like music was the crickets but that didn't even get him motivated. All he could do at this moment was roost upside-down on a tree branch that Shade was also on and he was looking around his surroundings bored. All he wanted to do was eat cereal in his pj's and watch some TV that was to his interest but because he was out here he couldn't and was now watching everything around him like it was a nature show. All he wanted to do was get moving pretty soon.

Kassidy was on a tree branch that was next to Marina's and she had her foot against the side of her inner thigh, her hands pressed together near her chin, and she had her eyes closed. She was meditating without a problem whatsoever as Marina was now grabbing a very plump berry off a plant-that she used sometimes back at the cathedral-with her claw and the juice started to drip down her arm as she then hummed to herself. She then started to squeeze and spread the juice around the parts where it could easily squirm through the band and as she did she sighed in relief.

"Zephyr was right, these berries really are soothing," Marina said as she continued to spread the juice to her banded arm.

"Zephyr was right about a lot of things," Kassidy said as she continued to meditate. "If we hadn't of came across him who knows what might've happened."

Holden sighed and looked at Shade as the girls were talking to each other and when he did he saw him pluck a leaf from the same kind of plant the berries were growing out of. Shade hummed to himself as he was inspecting the leaf and Holden then saw that he was going to eat it. Holden's eyes widened and he swung upwards and he hurried over to Shade as the girls continued to talk to each other. "Whoa, whoa," Holden said and Shade was very close to eating the leaf but he stopped and looked at Holden confused. "Dude, dude, what're you doing?"

"What?" Shade said.

"Don't eat that, it'll knock you out cold."

Shade looked at Holden with his brow furrowed annoyed. "Since when do you know your plants?"

"I may not know my vocabulary Smalls, but I know for sure that's something not to be messed with."

He couldn't believe he remembered what these leaves did and to think he was failing in most of his classes. It was a good thing that Holden even remembered otherwise Shade would've passed out like a light. He felt proud of himself right now.

Holden then noticed that Shade was looking at the girls and he looked at him confused. Shade then looked back at Holden with a mischievous smile on his face. "Holden, you feel like having fun with these two?" He then plucked another leaf from the plant and extended it towards Holden. "'Cause I do."

Holden's eyes widened for a few seconds but then he smiled mischievously as well at what Shade was getting at here. "Dude, this is by far the best idea you ever came up with." He then took the leaf from Shade and they then had their backs turned to the girls and they started to pretend to eat the leaves and they were trying to contain their laughter. "Oh, wow! This tastes so good."

Shade chuckled quietly and then he said. "This is the best leaf I've ever tasted in my life." Holden also started to chuckle at a low volume.

Then, they heard the girls gasp and they heard them land onto the tree branch they were on and when they did they smiled at each other toothily. "Guys, don't tell us you ate those leaves!" Kassidy shouted.

"Have you two forgotten what those leaves can do?!" Marina shouted as well. "They'll knock you out cold!"

The boys looked at the girls and pretended to be confused. "Wha-" and before Holden could finish, he and Shade pretended they started to feel drowsy and then Holden fell down face-first onto the tree branch and pretended to sleep and snore and as he did he felt Shade lay on top of him and he pretended to sleep and snore as well.

Holden heard the girls gasp and he could feel one of them shake him and they were telling them to wake up. He also heard Kassidy curse as they were sounding distressed and he thought this was so funny he wished he had a hidden camera recording this. That would've been even funnier.

He couldn't hold it any longer and he started to chuckle and then it turned into laughter as he opened his eyes and looked at the girls and Shade was also laughing as he was looking at the girls as well. They were laughing so hard as they sat up and showed the uneaten leaves to the girls and the girls looked at them surprised. The girls were then looking at them angrily.

"Tada," Shade said and he and Holden continued to laugh more.

"You should've seen your faces," Holden pointed at the girls and he continued to laugh.

Kassidy bared her teeth and she was looking at the boys more angrily. "Guys, that's not funny!"

Holden and Shade wiped away tears of laughter as they were now trying to settle down. "You're right, it wasn't funny," Holden said. "It was hilarious!"

Holden and Shade burst out laughing again and Holden could feel his inside of the stomach start to ache from all the laughing but he continued to laugh. They were laughing so hard the leaves they were holding dropped from their hands and glided into the wind.

"What the hell's wrong with you two?!" Kassidy said as she smacked Holden's back of the head.

"Ow!" Holden began to rub the backside of his head as he and Shade now stopped laughing and it felt like a flyswatter smacked it.

"It's not funny or hilarious! You two gave us a heart attack!"

"You guys can't treat Zephyr's teachings like they're some cheap trick," Marina shouted.

"Guys, relax," Holden said as he continued to rub the backside of his head. "It was just a joke."

"To you, it may be," Kassidy said as she poked her finger in Holden's chest roughly, "but do you think it would be a joke then if you guys _actually _ate those leaves?! We need to find the colony but yet you two are screwing around like you're toddlers!" Fire erupted from her body and Kassidy's eyes widened and she started to do her breathing technique and as she did the fire on her evaporated.

Holden held his hands up. "Geez, I'm sorry! God!"

"Yeah, sorry," Shade said. "I couldn't care less about all that plant stuff. We're on our way to Hibernaculum, not Herbenaculum."

Kassidy rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Remember what Zephyr said: plants are not just something that grows, they can be useful in a lot of situations and besides, you need to get us to Hibernaculum first. Plus the owls are still after us let's not forget."

The boys looked at each other and then they looked back at the girls. The girls were being serious about what they were saying and Holden could tell. He thought they should focus on getting to the colony and not upset these two more than how they were at the moment. Having fun could come later.

Shade then sighed as he looked away from the girls. "And my whole colony…"

Kassidy sighed as she rubbed her temples but then she looked back at the three and said: "Let's just forget that this ever happened, can we agree on that?"

Holden, Shade, and Marina looked at each other, and then they looked back at Kassidy, and one at a time they started to agree with what Kassidy said. Holden then looked to the sky and he didn't know where the colony was but he hoped that at the moment they were somewhere safe. He prayed to God that they weren't in any danger at the moment.

"Shade, you should pull up your sound map," Marina said. "We need to know how far we are from Stonehold."

Without a second thought, Shade nodded and closed his eyes as he began to concentrate on pulling up the sound map. The three watched as Shade was concentrating and moaning. The three stayed silent and didn't try to break Shade's concentration and they all knew that this was important for Shade to concentrate. It was even a good thing that Shade at least had the sound map otherwise they'd all be lost with no clue as to where they needed to go.

After all the moaning and concentration, Shade finally opened his eyes and the three looked at him inquisitively. He looked confused about something and he was scratching his head. The three looked at each other and then they looked back to Shade and he still hadn't looked back at them as he was in his thoughts.

"So… how far are we from Stonehold?" Holden asked.

Shade looked back at the three bats. "We're close… I think. We just have to look for a pine tree that looks like an arrow."

Holden, Kassidy, and Marina looked at Shade like he told them that a pig was flying. "You're kidding right?" Holden said.

"No, that's what I saw. I swear it's a pine tree that looks like an arrow."

Seeing that Shade was not lying, Holden slapped his hand against his face. "For Christ's sake…" He then looked back at Shade annoyed. "Smalls, there's like a billion pine trees around here and who knows when we're going to find a pine tree that looks like a sign. How in the hell are we even going to find it?"

"Well… I'll know it when I see it."

"Shade, Holden's right," Marina said, "It might take us a while to even find it, and what if the owls find us first?"

"Guys, calm down," Kassidy said. "We made it this far right? I'm sure we'll be able to find it if we work together. Yes, the owls are right now a problem but we can't stand around and complain about something that may be impossible to find. Sometimes things like this can be impossible but it can be done, we can find it. Just like we managed to find the city, the cathedral, and I can go on with this but you know what I mean. We did it before and we can do it again, we just have to work together like we always have."

Holden, Shade, and Marina looked at each other. Holden thought Kassidy did make a point once again and he knew that they needed to work together to find the pine tree that looks like an arrow. It would be a difficult task but he hoped that they would find it.

Marina then sighed. "Guys, I'm not going to feel safe until I'm comparing bands with Frieda." She indicated to her band as if proving her point.

"Then let's make it happen," Kassidy said as she then looked at the boys. "Right guys?"

Holden sighed but he then smirked as he crossed his arms across his chest. "Who are we kidding? You're always right."

Shade smiled weakly as he nodded. "Yeah, that's true." He then looked at Marina. "We'll make sure it happens."

At that, Marina then smiled and she opened her wings. "Then I say let's get going."

Marina then took off and so did the three Silverwings and together they started to search for the pine tree that looks like an arrow. Unbeknownst to them, they were about to be in danger.

* * *

"There's the pine tree," Shade shouted.

There was no doubt about it, up ahead of them a few flights was a pine tree that looks like an arrow pointing in a certain direction. After all this hard work and searching they finally found the pine tree. Holden even smiled in relief.

However, when Shade was saying something, Holden wasn't paying attention because in the corner of his eye he saw a lone tiger moth a couple of feet away from him. His eyes widened in surprise to see one in the area but he then smiled again and felt very hungry to try and hunt it down. He had his flops with tiger moths but he wanted to catch one real bad. He didn't want any of his friends to help. He wanted to do this on his own.

Holden looked at his friends and said: "Hey, guys?" Kassidy, Shade, and Marina looked at him confused. "You guys mind waiting there? I got a tiger moth to catch." Without waiting for a response, Holden dashed away from them and went after the tiger moth.

The tiger moth was flying away from Holden at a fast speed into the deep woods and as it did, Holden was trying to keep up with it, never taking his eyes off of it. Holden was going at a miraculously fast speed as he was chasing the tiger moth as he crisply flew around, under, and through certain things in the woods. He was hunting like never before as he was summoning sound vision on the tiger moth.

Unbeknownst to Holden, he was being watched by someone and they were following him ever so quietly making not even the slightest of a certain noise. Eyes were bored onto the Silverwing with the urge to attack him at any moment. However, they waited for the right moment to attack, steadying their breath and heartbeats as they kept a close eye on the boy so he wouldn't hear them. He would be an easy target to pounce on and at any moment he'd be grabbed hold of.

As he was still trying to get the tiger moth it then started to echo project into multiple ones. Holden smirked at the trick the tiger moth did. "Not today."

Holden already knew where the tiger moth was in the multiple echo projected ones and he went for it. Seeing that its trick didn't work, the tiger moth flew into another direction to try and escape the Silverwing. However, Holden was not going to let it get away that easily.

He flexed his clawed feet towards the tiger moth as he kept his stare on it and he had determination in those eyes. He wasn't going to fail at hunting the advanced bugs again. He wanted to hunt with no problem and not look like a fool again. Holden longed to finally catch one of the advanced bugs and now was his chance. One false move and he would surely lose his catch. He couldn't mess up now.

With a very big and powerful flap of his wings, Holden sped towards the tiger moth, and then his clawed feet grabbed hold of the tiger. Holden landed on the ground with his catch and he couldn't believe he caught his first tiger moth. He was breathing hard from all the flying he did to try and catch it but as he did he slowly started to smile. After all his failed attempts and struggles with hunting, he finally managed to catch one of the advanced bugs.

"Yes," Holden shouted not caring how loud he was at the moment. "Yes, I did it! I did it! Yes!" He then whooped. "Yeah, fear me bugs!"

Without wasting a moment, Holden began to eat the tiger moth and it tasted heavenly. He couldn't wait to tell his friends that he caught a tiger moth. Although, he knew Shade might be jealous because he always wanted to try and catch a tiger moth but Holden knew better than to brag. He of course wasn't like Chinook bragging about catching his food and such but he still couldn't wait to tell his friends about this.

As he was finishing eating his tiger moth he sighed and thought that it was time to head back to his friends before they thought he got taken by owls. He lifted his wings and was about to take off to the sky but then he heard someone behind him walking up to him. The confusion started to take place as he furrowed his brow, however, for some reason he started to feel the hairs on his back start to stick up like a cat's would whenever they got scared. He then lowered his winged arms and he slowly turned around to look at what it was that was walking up towards him and when he did his eyes widened as his breath was now stuck in his throat as he stared at who it was that was walking up to him. Fear started to kick in as he couldn't find it in himself to move.

"Wh-What the…?" Holden stuttered. "H-How? How are you…?" Holden couldn't find his words as he could only stare in fear and shock.

* * *

The three friends were roosting at the pine tree that looked like an arrow, waiting for Holden to return. He took off fast after a tiger moth deep into the woods and Kassidy would've gladly gone after him but Shade said that she shouldn't worry and that he was sure that Holden would be back soon. Kassidy didn't think it was a good idea to let Holden go flying on his own and neither did Marina but Shade somehow convinced them that he would be alright.

Kassidy was getting worried about Holden at the moment because he still hadn't returned and she was beginning to think that Holden got hurt or something. She then sighed. "That's it, I'm going after him."

"Kass, I'm sure he's on his way back here," Shade said. "Maybe give him a little bit more time."

"Shade, owls are out there. We should've followed him just in case if there are owls in this area."

Shade was about to respond but then a masculine scream was heard in the distance and this made the three of them jump in surprise. They looked to where the screaming was heard from and when they did they saw crows swarming out into the opening of the sky cawing. From the scream that the three of them heard, Kassidy thought it sounded like Holden's…

She knew they shouldn't have let him fly off on his own.

"Was that Holden?" Marina said.

Kassidy looked back at her friends and knew she had to go find Holden and fast. "Guys, go hide. I'm going to go find Holden."

Shade and Marina looked at Kassidy like she was crazy. "Kass, are you out of your roost?!" Marina said. "You can't do this on your own!"

"If there are owls in the area I can't afford letting them catch you guys. You need to go hide so that way we won't all get the chance of getting caught."

"Kass-"

Before Shade could say anything further, Kassidy looked at them seriously and said: "Go!"

Shade and Marina were hesitant but they obeyed Kassidy and flew off the tree branch and went to go hide. Kassidy took off and hurried to try and find Holden. She hoped that Holden wasn't hurt or worse.

* * *

They flew at a very fast speed trying to find a hiding spot like Kassidy told them to, however, Shade didn't feel right about finding a hiding spot. He didn't want to go hide somewhere and wait for something to happen. He wanted to do something.

Not caring what Kassidy told him and Marina to do, he turned sharply back around and pumped his wings hard to where Kassidy disappeared off to. He wasn't going to let her do this alone. He was both her and Holden's friend and the last thing he wanted was for them to get killed.

"Shade, what're you doing?!" Marina said.

"I'm going to help!" Shade replied.

Shade then heard Marina gasp and he didn't look back at her but he could tell that Marina looked distressed about something. "Shade, look out!"

"Huh?" Before Shade could process what Marina was talking about, he yelped when he felt someone grab his leg roughly and pull him down.

He then felt a hard impact against his back on the bark of a pine tree and he yelled in pain but before he could do anything he felt something tighten around his throat, causing him to have a hard time breathing. He tried to push off what was strangling him, however, no matter how hard he pushed the force kept pushing back even harder, as he was trying to push he felt something smooth and solid on his hands. Realizing he wasn't looking he looked down and when he did he thought he was going to throw up. He saw a bronze band on a forearm and that very forearm had the likings of a bat.

One that Shade would've thought he would never see again.

He slowly looked up and as he did his heart began to race while he looked up at the figure. He gasped and his eyes widened when he was now looking into the green eyes of a giant bat that he wished he never even knew in the first place. Staring at him darkly with a sneer was none other than Goth.

"Hola, amigo," the Spanish Prince bat said. "Did you miss me?"

Shade's breath was shaking as he stared at the giant bat that was still strangling him. "G-Goth!"

He then heard muffling and he turned his head and he gasped when he saw Throbb had Marina in his clawed feet and he was covering her mouth so she couldn't speak and he was smiling toothily towards Shade and he then chuckled.

"Now I am not sure about her but I am ready to meet your colony, mi amigo," Goth said as Shade then turned to look back at him.

Not knowing what else to do, Shade looked to where Kassidy disappeared off to desperately. "Kass!"

Before Shade could shout more, Goth used his other hand to cover his mouth and he was furrowing his brow at him annoyed and the only thing that came out of Shade was muffling. "Don't worry." Goth then sneered again. "She and your other friend are being taken _care _of."

Shade could only look at Goth shocked as he struggled against him. He realized that not only was Holden was in danger but Kassidy was as well. But the only question was how was she going to get taken care of? He then thought of something but when he did he thought that was impossible.

Wasn't it?

* * *

She desperately searched for Holden as fast as she could. She used her echo vision everywhere she went so she wouldn't miss anything and as she did she was also looking for tracks, blood, hair, anything that could tell her if there was anything in the area, or for that matter Holden. So far she found nothing that could trace down Holden and where he was now. Kassidy tried not to panic and tried to remain calm as she continued to search and call for Holden and she knew it was a stupid idea to call out for Holden but she couldn't help herself.

Kassidy was also worried that she made a mistake of leaving Shade and Marina behind for them to hide while she went to search. All she wanted to do was protect them but she feared that telling them to go hide was a bad call. She thought that maybe she should've taken them with her. She shook her head and she knew that what's done is done. All Kassidy could do right now was find Holden.

As she continued to call for Holden she hoped that she would be able to find him somehow, if she didn't what then? However, she wasn't intending on giving up on Holden. He was not only someone she was tutoring but she was also his friend and friends had their backs.

"Looking for someone?"

At the feminine voice Kassidy heard, she immediately stopped in her tracks before she could even take off from the ground and she thought she was hearing things but something inside her told her to look. She slowly turned to look and when she looked she gasped. Standing on a tree branch crazily smiling at her with those emerald-like eyes was Dianna. Kassidy was even more shocked when she saw that Dianna had Holden in a headlock and she was covering his mouth with her other hand. Holden's shouts towards Kassidy was muffled as he looked scared for his life. He looked like he was also trying to fight back but he was struggling with that.

"Holden," Kassidy shouted and she then looked at Dianna angrily but confused at the same time. "Let him go right now or I'm going to break your nails and shove them down your throat!"

At that, Dianna then started to chuckle darkly. "I'm afraid that's not going to happen, redhead."

"How'd you even escape anyway?"

"Why don't you ask him?"

"Wha-" before Kassidy could finish she yelped when she felt someone trip her.

She groaned from the impact to the ground but she then looked up and when she did she saw no one. Kassidy furrowed her brow confused but then a figure materialized before her. When Kassidy saw who it was she was shocked because _he_ was supposed to be dead.

Kassidy forgot how to breathe at the moment as she was staring into those snake eyes of the bat wizard that was going to kill the colony and her friends along with those other three giant bats. He looked tall and strong as he always did and he looked as if nothing happened to him. Nothing was singed on him and no wounds could be seen. He looked to be in perfect condition.

There were no words to describe how she was feeling at this moment. It was like he came back from the dead to have his revenge on her by haunting her everywhere she went. It didn't feel real that the bat that was supposed to be dead was now staring at her with a menacing smile plastered on his face.

"Martin?" Kassidy said bewildered.

"Hello, orphan," Martin said and this sent chills down Kassidy's spine just hearing him again. "We meet again."

She slowly shook her head not wanting to believe this. "No… you're dead…" She then pointed at him. "I electrocuted you back at the towers of fire… You're dead…"

Martin started to cackle at Kassidy's puzzlement. "No, I'm pretty much alive."

"H-How is this possible…?"

Martin crossed his arms as he continued to smile that menacing smile at her. "I have my ways, orphan, although, this reunion is not yet complete without your other two friends and the brothers."

Kassidy knew that the four of them should've stuck together but how different would have that went? She then snarled at Martin. "What did you have them do with my friends?!"

Martin started to tsk. "I see you're still having problems with your anger issues, but I'm not surprised." He then got closer to Kassidy. "As for your other friends they'll be in good hands."

She stood up more angrily. "If you had them hurt them I'm going to kill you!" Kassidy tried to swing a punch a Martin but when she did Martin disappeared as he flicked his wrist and all she swung at was air.

Her eyes widened but they widened even more when she heard Martin chuckling. "Oh, really?" Kassidy heard Martin's voice but she didn't know where he was because he was moving around so he could get her confused and it was pretty much working. "You're going to kill me, huh? Well then, you're going to have to be fast to try and do that and have fun trying to find me. You were only lucky you beat me but this time you have no chance against me."

Kassidy got in her stance as she got the details she needed to summon fire in her hands and as she did the fire formed in her hands. If she had to she was going to burn this wizard to Hell. She kept her eyes and ears open as she was prepared for what else Martin had to offer. He was more experienced than her in magic, yes. But she had to try and be smarter than him.

Trying to find where Martin was so Kassidy could fight him was very hard for her because everywhere her eyes looked to where Martin could've been she heard him taunting her some other place and this was frustrating her. Martin chuckled at some points as he remained invisible and Kassidy hadn't even shot fire in a direction because she didn't want to set the forest on fire and she would only do that when she had Martin in her sight. Martin even managed to get a few blows to her on some parts of her body and they managed to be very hard and painful and Kassidy could feel more fire forming on her body as she was getting angrier. She tried to throw punches with fire in her hands in directions in which she thought she could hear Martin but she only was hitting air and this made Martin laugh whenever she missed him.

Not knowing it, Goth and Throbb had arrived and they were carrying Shade and Marina tightly in their claws feet as Kassidy was still trying to find Martin so she could fight him. But then she felt her jaw get pummeled, then on her other side of the face she felt her cheek get pummeled as well, and then she felt an uppercut and she yelled in pain as she then hit the ground hard. Her bottom lip was busted open and it was now bleeding and blood was coming down her chin as she groaned in pain. She thought she could hear her friends shouting her name but she was only focused on trying to fight Martin.

Kassidy then started to hear someone walk up to her and she had her back to who it was and she had a feeling that it was Martin. She pretended that she was too weak to do anything-even as she was now feeling pain on parts of her body-just so she could try and trick him. When she started to hear him come close she turned quickly and tried to swing a punch but at that, she felt a hand stop her punch and the fingers started to tighten around her punch. Without knowing it, she then felt a punch to the face again, and then she felt herself being lifted off the ground, and before she could do anything else she was thrown towards a tree and she screamed as the fire on her demolished. Her abdomen then collided against the tree and when it did, Kassidy felt the wind knock out of her as she then crashed to the ground.

She tried to take in gulps of air as she was trying to regain herself, but at this point, she felt very weak. Kassidy could barely move and she could only try to take in as much air as she could. She couldn't believe what was happening and she couldn't even get a swing at Martin.

As Kassidy was trying to regain herself, Martin materialized before her and she looked at him with hatred. "You should feel stupid that you could even try to take me on again. Admit it, orphan, you lost."

Kassidy tried to get up and try and tackle Martin but he then kicked her straight to the mouth and blood-spattered to the ground. She spat out the blood that was pouring more down her face and her face started to throb. She then felt Martin turn her onto her back and they were now staring at each other. Martin's foot was then on her chest and Kassidy felt like he was trying to crush it like it was an orange.

Martin then looked closer at Kassidy and then he punched her to the face again. "I think it's time for me to give you your gift."

She felt too weak to look up at Martin as she was trying to regain herself but she then heard him use some sort of magic. Kassidy then heard Martin speak in some sort of language in a whisper and then she felt something slither her up her arm. It felt scaly, cold, and smooth. As she looked to see what it was she saw on her very winged arm was a golden looking snake with deep red looking eyes that looked like gems and her eyes widened in shock as she could hear it hiss.

Before she could do anything, the snake opened its mouth and very sharp looking teeth could be seen and then it drove its teeth into her forearm and when it did, Kassidy could feel a sharp sting and she wanted to scream in pain but she didn't want to give Martin that satisfaction and so she buried her face in her other arm and she made very low and painful noises. The stinging only intensified and as she started to lift her face from her arm and she started to notice that her surroundings were starting to blur and she thought she could hear voices but she couldn't make them out as her hearing was starting to sound audible. She tried to keep conscious but she felt too weak that she couldn't fight back what this snake was doing to her and she couldn't breathe like she was in a box with no holes. She started to lift her shaky arm to where she thought she could see the snake so she could try and rip it off but her arm felt like a noodle and it did her no good.

It felt as if she was dying. Kassidy didn't want to die she just couldn't. She wasn't ready for death. However, the weakness intensified and she could barely do anything except look up at the night sky. The stars in the sky looked beautiful, even in her blurry state and as she continued to stare at those beautiful stars her vision started to grow darker as the voices around her became nothing more than silence. She may have felt weak and pain but she at least could continue to stare at something beautiful to think about in the state she was in.

Then at that, everything blacked out.

* * *

**A/N- I know I said I'd try to write in a lot of words for my chapters but this is kind of how I wanted this chapter to go and I figured it be a good place to end this chapter. I was going to write the conversation Ursa and Brutus had in the show but then I decided I'm going to write a whole chapter about Quacey, Ursa, and the other beasts all in one chapter and when that chapter comes you'll know why I did that. Later!**


	38. A Poisonous Mind

**Chapter 38**

**A Poisonous Mind**

* * *

It felt like she was in a never-ending dream. The only thing was she was in no dream. However, all she could see was a never-ending sea of blackness spreading out and beyond with no existence. It was like she was the only one alive on Earth with no escape of the box she was locked in. She could not see herself as if she was invisible but she felt like she was flying as if she had no choice but to do it for the rest of her life with no breaks. Only she felt like she could keep going without sleep, food, or getting injured like she was invincible.

Kassidy wondered if this was what being dead was like. She wasn't exactly sure if she was dead but either way she felt like her whole self was shattered. She didn't know what she was feeling but it was coursing through her blood, making her feel like she wasn't herself.

She was stricken with fear at the thought that she could actually be dead, that she was headed to who knows where. Her family and friends needed her and she couldn't face the fact that she could actually be dead. Kassidy wanted to shout something, anything for that matter but not even her voice could make a sound like it was stored away into an unknown world where no one could ever find it but for unknown creatures to hear and see for themselves. If she could she would've been breathing heavily… Had she failed everyone she knew that she cared for deeply?

_No… _Kassidy thought with panic. _This can't be it! It can't be... My friends… My family… I can't leave them behind just like that… They need me… I can't fail them like I failed my parents, I just can't! I can't let that happen again… Please don't let this be the end… Please…_

If Kassidy would've, she would've crumbled to the ground with a broken soul inside her. Was her soul even still with her? Soul or no soul it wouldn't change the fact that she was now leaving somewhere, somewhere where she might not ever see anyone she knew ever again and it scarred her deeply like a knife slashing at her.

At the thought of this, her heart even clenched… _Wait, my heart… it's still beating? _She listened carefully and as she did she then heard the constant steady beatings and thumping against her chest. _I'm not dead, I'm alive!_

All Kassidy wanted to do was sigh in relief. However, she could only feel herself breathing. Yes, she was now breathing in silence and as she was she could feel her aching, bruised, and wounded body try to move. Moving proved to be difficult for it felt like she couldn't move at all with all the tenderness she was feeling.

Slowly, she started to hear faint noises coming from the background as her eyes were trying to open. Her eyelids felt very heavy and her eyes felt very sore and to make matters worse, even as she was trying to open her eyes she could feel a severe migraine kick in and it felt sharp against her forehead. Her sight was in a blurry state as what it seemed like she was looking at the ground and she also felt extremely dizzy with everything spinning around and around and she thought she was going to throw up.

Kassidy felt a tree branch's bark against her furry cheek along with some leaves tickling at not only her cheek but her nose as well. She wanted to lift her head but it felt like trying to lift a bowling ball. All she could do at the moment was lay in a daze.

Her ocean-blue eyes did pick up on what seemed to look like feet from a few animals that looked similar and familiar to Kassidy. The blurriness and dizziness were still there but her sight was slowly adjusting. She wanted to blink her eyes but even at that it felt like she would much rather close them for a while, so she tried to keep them open the best she could.

As she was trying to adjust to things she started to hear a masculine voice start to shiver. "I am freezing," the masculine voice complained and when he did, Kassidy thought the voice sounded familiar as it was echoing through her hearing. She was trying to recall where she heard that voice from but with the state she was in it was hard to do so. "I want to go back to the jungle. I miss the hot sun, the hunting, and all my servant bats waiting on my claw and wing… I say we eat them now."

"You fool, we're not going to eat them," a feminine voice said icily. "The reason we have them is so they can take us to the colony, not just immediately eat them. You're still thick in the head, even after being in that cell with me and your brother-in-law."

"She does bring up a good point," a masculine voice with a smooth Spanish accent said. "Eating four small bats won't be enough for us to make the journey back to the jungle and with only four bats it'll only last us for a little bit."

She slowly started to catch on to the voices and they were for sure familiar and when she tried to get up she ended up falling onto her back onto the tree branch she was on. Her legs felt wobbly when she tried to stand and she cursed in her head when she couldn't stand up. She then grunted after her back hit the branch.

"Guys, I think she's waking up," a voice said, and then Kassidy started to see a blurry figure hover over her and Kassidy could only make out the blue and yellow colors she was seeing on him. She was seeing about three of them as her vision was still spinning and it was making her eyes sorer. "Kass, can you hear me?"

"Shade, move your head away from her some," a feminine voice said that Kassidy thought she could make out as Marina's. "Give her some air." She then started to see a figure with bright colors on her start to look at her as well and there were three of her spinning like with Shade's figures.

"Is she awake?" Kassidy started to hear another masculine voice which she thought was Holden's and indeed it was as he was then next to Marina and Shade with now three of him as well, now driving Kassidy crazy for she wanted it to stop. "She doesn't look good."

Kassidy grunted in pain as she then started to rub her forehead with her eyes closed. She then started to sit up and she then slowly started to reopen her eyes and when she did the blurriness and dizziness were still there. However, after a few more seconds went by her vision started to get back to normal as well as her hearing and as it did she then started to hear and see things better.

When all that blurriness and dizziness were over, Kassidy started to have a better look at her friends and they were looking at her worried. She then cursed under her breath as she was then rubbing her eyes. _I feel like crap…_

"Kass, thank Nocturna," Marina said with relief. "You're alright."

Kassidy managed to look back at her friends after she rubbed her eyes. "What the hell happened…?"

"So, you finally managed to wake up, orphan," Kassidy's eyes widened at the voice that spoke and when she slowly looked over her shoulder she saw the four giant bats altogether. The brothers were standing on one tree branch while Martin and Dianna were hanging upside-down on another. Martin was sneering towards her. "About bloody time."

It was hard to believe that all four of these giant bats were back and they managed to catch all four of them. Kassidy couldn't understand how Martin could've survived that electricity, it was impossible. He was no god of course, but seeing him here alive was too hard to process. She was trying to come up with how he could've survived it but no matter what she came up with she couldn't fully put in all the details of how he would've done it.

Kassidy tried to stand up again but her legs still felt wobbly and she almost fell back down but just in time, Marina and Holden managed to grab her and they put her arms around their necks so she could steady herself as they held her hands. As Kassidy was standing she could feel her legs slowly start to feel less wobbly. Kassidy then started to get her winged arms off of Holden and Marina and release her holding hands with them and as she did she managed to keep herself in place, which was a relief.

But she wasn't focused on her legs. She was more focused on Martin. Her eyes were staring at him in fury as her hands were then turned into fists. She wanted to burn him alive, she knew that she shouldn't but even thinking about it made her feel satisfied in a way. She wanted nothing more than to see him gone.

Then, Kassidy lifted her hand and was about to summon fire so she could throw it at that snake but as she was doing her process she felt the most excruciating thing come towards her forearm and she yelled in pain as it began to spread through her arm more. She got on her knees and placed her hand to where the pain was coming from as it was increasing like her forearm was being chopped off. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she bared her teeth.

"Kass, what's wrong?" Marina said worriedly.

As Kassidy held her hand to where the pain was she started to feel something smooth, cold, and scaly. Confused, she then looked down at her forearm and what she saw made her eyes almost bulge out of her sockets. On her very forearm was that golden snake that slithered up her winged arm and it was secured to her forearm by its teeth, penetrating her skin. She tried to breathe steadily as she didn't want this abomination on her winged arm.

Kassidy tried to rip it off her but as she was trying to the same pain started to spread out through her arm as she grunted in pain. As the pain was spreading throughout her arm, the golden snake's eyes started to glow that bloody red. To make matters worse she started to hear hissing and at first, it was almost audible but then it started to increase rapidly, making her have to cover her ears as she thought that they were about to bleed. It was making the migraine she had worse. She tried to hold it but she couldn't for very long as she had to yell in pain.

"Kass!" She heard Marina shout.

"You son of a bitch," Kassidy heard Holden yelling. "What did you do to her?!"

Kassidy then heard Martin chuckling. "Enjoying my gift, orphan?" He said, ignoring what Holden said. Kassidy managed to look at Martin as she was going through this unbearable pain and he was still sneering at her. "That snake on you looks pretty nice now wouldn't you agree?" Kassidy bared her teeth angrily at Martin with rage in her eyes. "Oh, and it's also to make sure that you won't give us any problems. That snake has the ability to make you not use your magic, so no more magic usage for you."

After what Martin said Kassidy felt like her whole body suddenly just stopped in a complete second. Kassidy felt like she was going to break apart because she couldn't use her magic and it was all because of Martin and this messed up snake he put on her. Without using her magic what was she supposed to do? It was a part of her and if she could no longer use it… she felt like nothing.

The hissing in Kassidy's ears eventually stopped and when it did, Kassidy slowly removed her hands from her ears. After she did, her friends went to see if she was alright and Kassidy could tell that they were worried about her. At this moment, Kassidy didn't know what to say to anyone. However, she could only feel hatred for that wizard Vampyrum and ever since she laid eyes on that snake she despised him more than anything.

"Now then," Martina said rubbing his hands, "I believe that we have something to discuss as far as this journey to find the colony goes, am I right Silverwings?"

Martin then flicked his hand near him and when he did a black cloud surrounded him and then the cloud was near the four friends and when he appeared in front of them on the tree branch they were all on, Kassidy's friends gasped as they looked at Martin with their eyes widened while Kassidy kept staring at Martin angrily. Then, in a split second, Martin grabbed Shade by his throat with only one hand and Shade yelped surprised as he was then struggling against Martin's strength, and Holden, Marina, and even Kassidy were looking at what was happening shocked.

"You let him go you crazy assed half hybrid," Holden shouted and he was about to attack Martin but Martin backhanded Holden across the face and Holden yelled in pain and he was about to fall down the tree branch if Marina hadn't of caught him in time.

Kassidy was shocked by what Martin did and so was Shade and Marina, but Kassidy snarled at Martin and was about to attack him but Martin saw what she was about to do as he sneered. "I wouldn't try anything, orphan, because if you do it's going to cost the runt's wings." He extended his claw near Shade's wing to prove his point and when he did, Shade gasped as the three friends widened their eyes even more. "Now, we wouldn't want the runt to lose his wings so he'll look more like a mouse am I right?" Martin's sneer went down as he then furrowed his brow. "Now don't you annoying bats bother me, I have a runt to talk to."

Martin then looked at Shade and smirked and as he did, Shade gulped nervously as he was now shaking as well. Martin then pressed his fingers against Shade's throat and as he did, Shade was having a hard time breathing. "So, where is your colony at now, boy? Do tell us where they are now."

"Shade, don't tell him," Kassidy shouted. "Whatever you do, don't tell him!"

"I'd think wisely, boy. You seem like you're capable of making the right choices and now I think we should put that to the test. Tell me where the colony is." Martin then grabbed Shade's wrist roughly and when he did, Shade flinched in pain and Martin brought Shade's hand near his mouth. "Or I'm going to start by biting off each of your fingers until you confess where they are."

The three friends watched in horror while their Silverwing friend was shaking and having his eyes dart in different directions trying to come up with what to say while his fingers were about to be bitten off anytime now by this Vampyrum wizard. Kassidy hoped that Martin wouldn't do what he said he was going to do to Shade and she also hoped that Shade might make some sort of lie so they didn't lead the four Vampyrum bats to the Silverwing colony. Time was ticking and as it did no one said anything just yet.

Martin brought Shade's hand closer to his mouth and as he did, Shade gasped as he continued to shake. "Well?" Martin said staring into Shade's eyes.

Without saying a word, Shade managed to point in the opposite direction from where he and the other three were actually headed to. Kassidy, Holden, and Marina looked at each other with the same worried expressions as they were all hoping that Martin would believe Shade. However, Kassidy could tell that Martin didn't want to believe Shade as he was now furrowing his brow.

"That runt is lying," Goth exclaimed with his brow now furrowed. "He's pointing in the opposite direction to where they were actually flying to."

Shade stuttered but managed to speak as Martin was strangling him. "W-We were about to change directions when you caught us." Martin tightened his fingers on Shade's throat and Shade was trying to breathe once again.

"Stop it," Marina shouted to Martin.

"I could easily break your neck you puny sized rodent," Martin said ignoring Marina, "However, seeing animals suffer is much more satisfying than killing them in an instant." His smirk then returned. "I can see in those frightened eyes of yours that you are lying."

"No, I swear," Shade said trying to sound convincing.

"Try all you want, Silverwing, I know a liar when I see one. You may think you're trying to fool me but you're only making a fool of yourself at this moment." He then hummed to himself and as he did he stared more closely at Shade and Shade was now really getting uncomfortable. "Don't worry though. I always have a few tricks up my wing."

Then, as Shade and Martin kept eye contact with each other, Martin's eyes started to glow and as they did, Shade's started to glow as well. Kassidy's breath was stuck in her throat when she saw what Martin was doing. She didn't even have to guess what was happening right now. "No!"

"Doesn't this feel nice, runt?" Martin was now smirking.

After Martin asked Shade that question, Shade started to slowly smile weakly as he then slowly nodded. "Yeah…"

"Good, now you are going to lead us to where your colony is headed to next. That won't be a problem now will it?"

At that, Shade slowly shook his head. "No, sir."

Martin and Shade's eyes stopped glowing and after they did, Martin then said: "Excellent." Martin then threw Shade towards the three friends and when he did the four of them yelped when Shade collided into Kassidy, Holden, and Marina.

However, Kassidy gently got Shade back as she then got up to Martin and bared her teeth angrily at him. "Think your stupid ass magic solves all your problems?! You think you can get to have your ways every day just like now?!"

Martin didn't stop smirking as he was now staring at Kassidy. However, he then started to laugh like he was a maniac and as he did, Dianna also started to laugh. Kassidy and her friends stared at Martin and Dianna confused. Even Goth and Throbb were confused as the two spouses kept on laughing. The four friends then looked at each other without the four Vampyrum bats looking to make sure they were all seeing this and indeed they were.

"Did they smoke something or what?" Holden whispered.

Shade and Marina looked at Holden confused. "What?" Marina whispered.

Martin and Dianna eventually stopped laughing and wiped away their tears of laughter as Martin then looked back down at Kassidy. "As a matter of fact: yes. Unlike you I'm capable of using my magic anyway I want to as advanced at it as I am. When you're advanced at magic you can always have your ways, but sadly for some that are less experienced at magic like you they don't have a lot of their ways."

Kassidy got angrier as she now wanted to hit Martin's face. "You piece of-"

Before Kassidy could say anything further, Martin scratched her across the face and this made Marina scream and the boys gasp. Kassidy grunted in pain as she felt the scratches across her face. When she took her hand off her face she saw blood on her hand. The side of her face now had three scratch marks on it, one across her eye, one across her cheek, and one across her chin to her lip. Kassidy's eyes widened at that.

Martin was now scowling at her, not impressed. "Oh, don't worry, I haven't forgotten what you and your two other Silverwing friends did to me. But you, orphan, managed to cross the line with me. When all of this is over and I mean it, I'm going to enjoy getting back on you. But I ain't going to say what yet, it's better to keep things a surprise." He then sneered. "It makes things much more interesting."

Martin then eyed all four of the friends. "Now, I believe we should get going. Standing here all day isn't going to get us to the colony fast enough now will it?" He then looked at the three Vampyrum bats. "Each of you keep an eye on one of these four to make sure they don't get into some funny business." He then grabbed Kassidy's arm roughly. "This one is mine."

The four friends looked at each other nervously as they all knew that they had to ditch these guys, but how exactly? Kassidy wasn't sure how they would but she wanted to get rid of them again one way or another. She didn't want these four to get anywhere near the colony.

* * *

The eight bats had been flying quietly as they were headed for the destination that was close to the one in Shade's sound map. Martin of course was keeping an eye on Kassidy every so often as they continued on the fly. Dianna was keeping an eye on Marina and Marina was just as uncomfortable as she always had been whenever Dianna was anywhere near her. Goth was keeping an eye on Shade and Goth didn't like this job he had and neither did Throbb as he was keeping an eye on Holden but they didn't complain about it too much.

As they were flying, Kassidy could still feel the aches, stings, and pain throughout her body after what Martin did to her. She was trying to push through it though as the pain was unbearable but she was trying not to show it. Kassidy didn't want anyone to assume that she couldn't do anything just because she was injured, she had to fight this no matter what.

Kassidy and her friends looked at each other every so often as they all wanted to ditch these guys and Kassidy wanted to come up with a plan but even that was impossible at this moment. The Vampyrum bats were watching them closely, every wing beat of the way. Kassidy herself was quietly trying to come up with a plan, something that would be sneaky enough for not even the four Vampyrum bats would expect.

"What's up with your face, Señor?" Kassidy heard Throbb ask Holden, breaking the silence.

Kassidy looked over her shoulder to see that Holden was acting strange. His face was looking weird like something was actually wrong with him and this got Kassidy concerned. She wanted to go over to Holden to see what was wrong with him but even if she tried to do that, Martin would've pulled her back.

"I have to go," Holden said.

Throbb looked at Holden confused. "Huh?"

"You know… go…"

"Go where exactly?"

Kassidy sighed annoyed with her brow furrowed. "He has to urinate."

Throbb's eyes widened. "Oh, why didn't you say so?"

Holden grumbled annoyed but then looked at Martin. "Listen, can we please take a break? I have to go."

Martin looked at Holden annoyed. "Can't you hold it in?"

"Man, I've been holding it all day. If I don't go right now I'm going to pee myself."

"Can we please also go do some hunting?" Shade pleaded with Martin. "We need the energy for the journey. If we don't have enough energy we might die and without me, you won't know where the colony is headed to next."

Martin rolled his eyes as he growled annoyed. "Fine, but make it quick. We don't have all day. Stay within the area though and if I so much as see any of you four trying to make an escape of some sort you'll be down to three friends in your group."

The four friends had their eyes widened, but they were all about to go and do their thing but Martin all the sudden grabbed Kassidy by her winged-arms and Kassidy yelped as he then flew her towards the ground. Kassidy heard her friends yelling her name but Kassidy couldn't do anything as Martin then threw her to the ground and Kassidy then rolled to a stop. She groaned and before she could even try to get up, Martin then slammed her against a tree and Kassidy yelled in pain.

"What're you doing?!" Shade shouted as all the other bats landed on the ground.

Without looking at Shade, Martin then said to Kassidy: "You ain't eating anything for the whole day. Since you did me wrong I'll make sure you'll learn your lesson so congratulations on getting the spot of not eating."

"But she needs to eat," Marina exclaimed to Martin. "You can't-"

Martin sharply turned his head to Marina. "Shut up you stupid Brightwing!" This made Marina flinch. "If you and your two other friends there try to get the orphan here something to eat like I said it'll be down to three friends." Kassidy's friends were shocked and scared by what they heard. "Now go and do your things before I change my mind."

Kassidy's friends hesitated as they didn't want to leave her behind, but Kassidy then said to them: "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just go do what you need to do."

"You might want to listen to your keen Silverwing friend here, otherwise…" Martin then slid his finger across his throat. Kassidy could see that her friends wanted to protest but without saying anything else they then took off. Martin then looked at Goth and Throbb. "You two can go do some hunting but keep an eye on those three and I mean it."

Kassidy noticed that Goth looked like he didn't like to take orders from anyone, as where he was from he was a Prince. However, Throbb nodded without hesitation and then took off. Goth looked like he wanted to say something to Martin but he then sighed and nodded. He then lifted off the ground and flew off.

The two spouses then looked at Kassidy. "As for you, orphan," Martin said. "This shall be your spot to stay in and you ain't moving from this spot."

Kassidy looked at Martin and Dianna angrily. "What do I look like, a newborn? I'm starting to see why you two don't have any."

After what Kassidy said, Martin and Dianna looked at Kassidy dangerously as their shadows were towering over her as if she really triggered them and she looked at them confused now. "You better watch that tongue of yours you little brat," Dianna said as she was about to advance on Kassidy.

"Love," Martin said as he held his wing up to stop his mate. "She hasn't tried anything stupid yet but if she does she'll be in for a nice treat." Martin then cupped Kassidy's chin roughly. "We'll be back orphan, and don't forget, don't move from this spot otherwise, it's one of your friends' heads. I'm always watching." Martin then roughly shoved Kassidy's face away and after he did he and Dianna then grinned and chuckled and this made Kassidy angrier as the two then took off to hunt.

Kassidy cursed in her head as she was now stuck sitting in this spot like she was a little kid getting a time out. She could feel the heat start to spread through her veins as her anger was increasing but even with a little bit of that, the snake's eyes glowed, stinging her arm a little and she hissed as she then began to rub it to ease the pain. She cursed as she continued to rub her arm. When the stinging went away she stopped rubbing her arm and sighed. She then laid her back against the tree she was near as she had nothing to do. She couldn't fight back because of that stupid snake on her arm, she couldn't eat, and she couldn't even move away from her spot otherwise she would risk one of her friends' lives.

As she was lying against the tree she decided to entertain herself by humming a random song. It'd been a while since the last time she listened to some good old music as it always was a way to entertain herself and it was also therapy for her. She wished she could be listening to her music right as she would rather listen to music than listen to that snake's voice.

She looked around her to be sure that no one was watching or listening to her as she then started to hum Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. As she was humming she started to pat her hands against her lap to the rhythm she was humming. It was a catchy song to her and it was at least entertaining her somewhat. As she was humming she was trying to come up with a plan to help her and her friends out of this mess. If they didn't get away from these giant bats soon the colony would get eaten by those cannibal bats.

What Kassidy didn't know was that someone was now watching her. The figure landed near her but far enough away from her and it brought back food to eat for itself. The figure was quietly watching as Kassidy was humming and patting her hands against her lap making it sound like she was playing the bongos instead. In a way, the figure liked what he was hearing. As Kassidy hadn't noticed the figure near her still she kept on doing what she was doing and hadn't stopped a moment.

"What're you doing?"

Kassidy jumped and stopped what she was doing. She looked next to her and her eyes widened when she saw Goth staring at her with a look of confusion but interest in his eyes. _Oh, god…_ Kassidy thought. Her eyes then narrowed with annoyance as she kept staring at Goth. "Seriously, is this a habit of yours, sneaking up to anyone just so you can talk to them? How much have you heard anyways?"

Goth then chuckled. "If I didn't have my sneakiness I wouldn't be able to catch my prey. If I hadn't of caught and killed this rabbit-" Goth then pointed to a rabbit corpse that was going to be his meal without looking at it to indicate his point, "I'd be starved by now." Goth then got on his knees near the corpse. "As for your other question, señorita I heard a little of what you were doing. You were making some music there I saw."

Kassidy rolled her eyes. "How delightful to hear, Fancy Wings," she said ironically.

Goth shrugged his shoulders then started to rip out the flesh from the rabbit and started to eat it. He then looked up at Kassidy as he finished swallowing down a chunk of meat. "From what I heard you sound as though you have a great voice when it comes to singing."

Kassidy crossed her arms as she then looked away from the Vamprum Spectrum Prince. "I don't sing, not even in front of anyone, especially not in front of royals that are narcissistic and get showered with praises by their species no matter what."

"Sorry that I'm magnificent then," Goth said and went back to eating his carcass.

"Shove it up your ass, Fancy Wings."

However, Kassidy then sniffed, and as soon as she did her nose started to pick up on something divine. She started to sniff more and as she did the scent seemed as though it was close to her. Her eyes were then looking at Goth's bloody meal.

The divine scent she was picking up on was coming from Goth's meal.

Kassidy narrowed her eyes confused at why she was getting a good scent from that rabbit as before the smell of blood would've smelt overpowering like putting on too much perfume. But now… it was like smelling some good old meat she liked to eat like steak. The smell was absolutely satisfying that she felt her mouth-watering. She kept staring at the corpse for some reason like a hungry lion just wanting to tear at it any second now. Kassidy wanted to get up and dive into that carcass.

When Kassidy realized that something wasn't right with her she immediately looked away from the carcass and tried to pay no attention to it anymore and it was also to be sure that Goth hadn't noticed that she was staring at it. Kassidy felt hungry and she hadn't eaten anything at all today. It was driving her crazy at how hungry she felt but she didn't want to beg for food and give in to the cannibal bats. She wouldn't allow that. But why was she thinking about wanting to eat that rabbit though?

"Care for a taste?"

"Huh?" Kassidy looked at Goth confused as his muzzle was now covered in blood.

"You were staring at my meal. Do you have an interest in trying a sample from this?"

Kassidy furrowed her brow at Goth. "In case you forgot, Fancy Wings, I'm an insectivore bat and besides I ain't even allowed to eat for the rest of the day."

Goth simply shrugged his shoulders. "Your loss, señorita, you know though, you intrigue me a lot. Everything about you is not something I would expect from an insectivore bat such as yourself. A lot of things about you are something like how a Vampyrum bat would act and probably even look like. Zotz probably would've liked you as one of his followers if you were actually born in my species."

Kassidy thought about what Goth said but what he said sounded utterly ridiculous to her. However, when Goth mentioned Zotz this got her to think about something. _Do Fancy Wings and his species worship… Cama Zotz?_ Kassidy read about Cama Zotz and what she read about him was quite something if she could say so herself. _Well, it does make sense as to why Fancy Wings and his species would want to worship that guy. Cama Zotz after all does mean "death bat"._

Kassidy was about to say something but she heard something drop to the ground and when she saw what it was she saw a dead raccoon and landing next to it was Martin. When Kassidy looked up at Martin she saw that he was staring directly at Goth with annoyance. Goth noticed it as well.

"So, having a lovely chat with the orphan here?" Martin said to Goth.

Goth furrowed his brow at Martin. "What does it matter to you?"

"I wouldn't get too attached to her if I was you, my friend. Many things can go wrong if you do. _Many_ things." He then looked at Kassidy as she had her brow furrowed at him. "I see you still have a problem with your attitude, orphan." He then shook his head slowly. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I'd rather you stop calling me orphan, jackass," Kassidy spoke with venom in her voice.

"I don't see why I should stop calling you that, considering you don't have any parents anymore." Martin then sneered and got up close to Kassidy. "And what are you going to do if I don't stop calling you orphan, cry to your parents? Oh, that's right. You can't because they're dead like you said." He said mockingly and then started to cackle.

At that, Kassidy's blood started to boil as her teeth bore in anger. He took it too far many times just like now. Her hands were turned into fists as Martin continued to cackle while Goth just watched quietly.

All of a sudden, Kassidy spat at Martin and the saliva splattered on Martin's cheek and as soon as it did, Martin stopped cackling. His eyes widened at what Kassidy did and he slowly looked at her as Kassidy continued to stare at Martin angrily. Kassidy saw in the corner of her eye Goth looking between the two, wondering what would happen next with his eyes widened as well.

Martin then furrowed his brow at Kassidy and rubbed the saliva off his face. "So, still haven't lost that fighter in you now have you orphan?" His was then over Kassidy as he stared down at her dangerously as an actual snake would. "You really have been getting on my nerves a lot lately and I think I ought to teach you a few more lessons to get your head straight."

He then grabbed her by her neck with only one hand and started to strangle her and he then lifted her and Kassidy gasped as she was then trying to breathe. Martin's grip around her throat was really tight and she tried to fight back but the strength Martin carried was unbelievable. Even trying to make him stop strangling her would be of no use.

* * *

The three friends were trying to focus on their hunting but they were barely even focusing on their hunting as they felt very uncomfortable being watched by giant bats and if even one of them tried to escape it was immediate death for one of them. They were also worried about their witch friend as she was much worse than them at the moment. They wanted to help Kassidy by bringing her back food but that would only cost one of their lives.

Holden wanted nothing more than to get rid of those crazy giant bats. It felt like they were haunting him and his friends' every move. It freaked him out a lot and if he would've he would've called the cops immediately if not for the situation he was in.

Then, the three of them landed on the ground as they all got as many bugs as they could. They didn't have much time to talk but they knew they had to make this quick. "How are we going to get rid of them?" Marina whispered. "We're dealing with four giant bats again and with one of them being having magic like Kassidy. Kassidy can't even use her magic thanks to Martin."

"We have to do something though," Shade whispered. "We can't let them get to the colony and I want to lead them in a different direction but… this magic Martin used on me…"

"We'll figure out something," Holden whispered. "What did it even feel like, Smalls?"

"Well… I couldn't do anything really and no matter how hard I want to lead them in a different direction my mind keeps telling me to take them to the next location and my body just keeps heading in that right direction. When Martin did what he did to me I felt soothed…" Shade then shook his head as he then rubbed his temples. "I can't even get it out of my head still."

"Well, no matter what we can't have them get to the colony."

"Having a nice chat?" They jumped and yelped and they turned around to see Dianna staring down at them with her brow furrowed. The three friends were then looking at each other worried. "I do hope you're not trying anything because we wouldn't want to have any problems now would we?"

Holden felt the inside of his throat burning as Dianna kept staring down at them with that menacing look in her emerald green eyes. He wasn't sure if Dianna actually heard them but he knew that they had to be extremely careful no matter what. These guys were not to be messed with.

Holden then nervously smiled at Dianna. "Wouldn't dream of it…"

Dianna was drumming her long claws on her forearm as she had her arms crossed across her chest. She stared at them for a few good seconds then rolled her eyes. "I hope you're right, chatty bat."

The three friends then saw Throbb flying over to them and he had a squirrel in his mouth. He then landed and started to eat it and as he did the three friends looked at the scene disgusted. Holden honestly wanted to throw up as he watched this and the smell was unsatisfying.

Dianna looked at Throbb annoyed as she kept drumming her claws on her forearm. "You mind?"

"Huh?" Throbb looked up confused as his muzzle was now covered in blood.

"What the hell even occurred in that small brain of yours to bring that scrawny dead squirrel over here to feast on, huh? You trying to put on some stupid show or what?"

Throbb was looking at Dianna nervously. "I flew over here because I was going to ask you if we should go find-"

"While you brought that over here?"

"Um… si."

The three friends were looking at each other again as Dianna was getting annoyed by Throbb. Holden could see that Dianna did not like Throbb one bit. He could also see that Throbb was afraid of her. Holden honestly felt bad for Throbb and sure, Throbb tried to kill him but Holden really did feel bad for Throbb.

"I'm starting to wonder how you are even still alive at this moment." Dianna then came up closer to Throbb and as she did, Throbb's ears lowered against his head. "Look at you. I wouldn't even be surprised if you can't even survive out here. How much meat do you eat per day, huh? Not sure myself as you do seem like you go overboard with it you porky bat."

At that, Holden's eyes were narrowed as he didn't like Dianna's attitude towards Throbb as she seemed to be doing a pretty good job at hurting Throbb's feelings. He then got in between Dianna and Throbb and he stared up at Dianna with his eyes still narrowed. "Who the hell do you think you are of body shaming, anyone?"

Dianna looked down at Holden surprised when she saw him standing up for Throbb but she then furrowed her brow. "Stay out of this, chatty bat."

"Actually no, I'm not going to stay out of it. That's not right and what did he ever do to deserve the crap you're giving him? You really are a bitch."

"You better watch it, chatty bat because I'm this close to sending you to death."

Holden wasn't sure why he was standing up for Throbb but it felt good to do so. Shade, Marina, and even Throbb were staring at Holden surprised at what he was doing. He was about to say something but he then heard a feminine voice yell in pain. From what he could make out it almost sounded like…

"Kass," Shade said and immediately took off to where the painful yelling was coming from.

"Whoa, Smalls, wait up," Holden shouted and went after Shade and Marina followed.

Holden didn't care if Dianna nor Throbb followed them but he wanted to get to Kassidy as from what the three were hearing it did not sound good. They flew as fast as they could in hopes of reaching their good friend. The faster they flew the closer they got.

Then they saw what they were hearing and they were shocked. Martin was beating up Kassidy on the ground and Kassidy looked like she was trying to fight back but she couldn't as Martin was either punching or scratching her more making her have more bruises or scratch marks on her. Martin was going at her like she was a punching bag. Kassidy was getting even worse than before and Holden wanted to get to her.

"Kass!" The three friends screamed as they tried to get to Kassidy but the three other giant bats held them back with their clawed feet.

"Let us go," Shade shouted.

Martin then grabbed Kassidy's bloody red hair roughly and pulled her up from the ground and as he did, Kassidy looked at him weakly but shocked. "I think it's time for you to get yourself cleaned up, orphan."

Martin then pulled her by her hair and dragged her to a lake that was nearby and as he did, Kassidy desperately tried to grab at anything to keep Martin from dragging her to that lake but it was of no use. When they got near the lake, Martin pinned her near it and then he dunked her head into the water. Kassidy was having a hard time getting her head out of the water as Martin continued to drown her. As Martin was drowning Kassidy, the three friends shouted at Martin to stop what he was doing.

Holden then saw in horror that Kassidy was fighting back less as it looked like she was getting weaker and weaker. He didn't want it to be the end of Kassidy's life. She was his friend and he didn't want to see her die. She just couldn't die.

But then, Martin pulled Kassidy's head out of the water and when he did he then threw her to the ground. Kassidy was then coughing out water and trying to breathe in air. She could barely move at all as all she could do was try to breathe. But she didn't have time to breathe a lot in as Martin then had his foot pressed against her throat. Kassidy desperately tried to push Martin's foot off her throat but with the state, she was in she could not do so.

"Now you see what happens when you mess with the likes of me you weak witch," Martin said cruelly. "I want you to remember this exact day and you do I want you to remember how weak you were that you couldn't win again. This here will be a reminder of something you failed at and you will always be a failure no matter where you go. You are _nothing._"

Kassidy could only stare in utter shock and Holden wanted to get down to her but no matter how hard he or any of his friends tried they were held back with a strong force. Martin then got his foot off Kassidy's throat and as soon as he did, Kassidy started to cough and breathe in the air again as she had her hand against her throat in pain.

Martin then looked up at the bats in the sky. "We need a roost as the sun will be up soon."

Holden could only watch as Kassidy was on the ground severely wounded. She looked… defeated. Her eyes were only kept on the ground as she hadn't made any eye contact with anyone, not even with her friends. Seeing what he saw, Holden knew that they weren't safe with these giant bats.

Whatever it took, Holden would do whatever it takes to help him and his friends escape these monsters.

* * *

**A/N- Been a while but I finally have the next chapter! Sorry for the long wait I was trying to figure out how I wanted this chapter to start and end and I was trying to figure things out carefully. Plus I've been busy a lot lately so that's also the reason why this took so long. Welp, other than that I will have the next chapter for this out soon, later.**


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